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Umran Malik bowled his best ever Indian Premier League (IPL) spell to break the backbone of Gujarat Titans (GT) batting lineup but it was not enough to guide Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to a victory. Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia’s late carnage helped Titans win last-ball thriller as they scored 59 runs from last four overs to get their team over the line in an unlikely run chase after Malik’s sensational fifer.
Saha makes use of powerplay overs
Chasing a big total of 196, Titans were off to a brilliant start. Wriddhiman Saha did the bulk of scoring whereas Shubman Gill played second fiddle to him. Saha was attacking against Marco Jansen straightaway and took on T Natarajan as well.
But Gill struggled to get boundaries frequently and was first to fall to Malik. Gill tried to make room for himself to play the cut shot but was beaten by the sheer pace. Gill got out after scoring 22 runs from 24 deliveries. The opening partnership was broken in the eighth over. They put on 69 runs together.
Malik’s thunderbolts
Skipper Hardik Pandya looked in good form with two boundaries but Malik bowled a short one that he mistimed. The Titans skipper scored 10 runs from six deliveries.
In-form David Miller struggled to get going. On the other end, Saha tried to take too many risks against Malik and paid the price. He made room for himself to hit big but could not get his bat down in time before the near-153 kmph ball hit the stumps. The wicketkeeper-batter scored 68 runs from 38 deliveries including 11 fours and one six.
Miller could not cope with Malik’s pace either and got his middle stump uprooted by Malik. The Jammu & Kashmir came from around the wicket and sent Miller back to the dressing room. He completed his fifer by getting the wicket of Abhinav Manohar for a golden duck. Malik conceded just 25 runs from his four overs and took five wickets. This is the best bowling figures in IPL 2022 so far.
Rashid & Tewatia’s game
The unorthodox duo of Tewatia and Rashid was the last pair that could keep the run chase alive. In the last two overs, SRH needed 35 off 12 deliveries. Till then, Rashid and Tewatia had opened their arms and looked to hit big. In the penultimate over, Tewatia hit Natarajan for a four and six.
In the last over, SRH needed 22 runs against Marco Jansen. Tewatia started off with a six and followed it up with a single. Rashid got the strike and the length ball disappeared into the crowd. The left-arm pacer bowled a dot ball but it did not affect Rashid's bat swing. The Afghan batter sliced the full and wide delivery for a six followed by a pull that went over the fine leg fielder. He remained unbeaten for 31 off 11 deliveries whereas the southpaw scored 40 runs from 21 balls.
Shami strikes with new ball
Earlier, SRH lost their skipper Kane Williamson in the second over of the innings. Mohammed Shami got Williamson’s wicket for the fifth time in T20 cricket. Shami got another wicket in the powerplay overs. Rahul Tripathi got out after scoring 16 runs off 10 deliveries.
Abhishek-Markram partnership
Abhishek Sharma and Aiden Markram attacked in the middle overs and negated the Rashid threat. Rashid conceded as many as 45 runs in his four overs and did not get a single wicket. Abhishek scored 65 runs from 42 deliveries including six fours and three sixes. He got bowled by Alzarri Joseph off the first ball of the 16th over. The two shared a 96-run partnership for the third wicket.
In the next over, Nicholas Pooran got out after scoring three runs. Markram could not hit big in slog overs either and lost his wicket to Yash Dayal in the 17th over after reaching his half-century. Markram scored 56 runs from 40 balls including two fours and three sixes.
Washington Sundar did not make an impact either Sundar scored three runs from four deliveries and got out off the first ball of penultimate over. Shashank Singh got off the mark with a boundary. Shashank and Jansen made full use of the last over hitting Lockie Ferguson for 25 runs. Jansen started off with a six which was followed by a hat-trick of sixes by Shashank. In his debut IPL innings, he scored 25 runs from six deliveries to get SRH to 195/6.
