Mohit, Gill too hot to handle for PBKS

Press Trust of India

Mohali: Gujarat Titans roared back to winning ways with a six-wicket victory over Punjab Kings after Mohit Sharma’s excellent return to the IPL and Shubman Gill’s 49-ball 67 here on Thursday. Medium pacer Mohit marked his comeback with figures of 2/18 as holders GT restricted PBKS to 153 for eight.  

Playing in his first game in the league since 2020, Mohit was exceptional in the penultimate over, giving away as little as six runs.  When their turn to bat came, Gill led the way with his fine half-century as GT completed the chase of 154 in 19.5 overs, four days after suffering a heartbreaking loss to Kolkata Knight Riders.

Having done duty as the team’s net bowler last season, Mohit, who has also played for the Indian team including in the World Cup, mixed his pace and varied his lengths well throughout his spell. Later, the young Gill once again showed his class with a quality innings that contained seven fours and a six.

From GT’s point of view, it was extremely important that Gill stayed on till the end, especially after the dismissal of captain Hardik Pandya with the team still 48 runs away from their third victory in 34 balls. For PBKS, Matthew Short top-scored with a 24-ball 36 but it was Masood Shahrukh Khan’s nine-ball 22, which helped the team cross 150. GT were off to a flyer and scored 56 in the six powerplay overs with the Gill going great guns.  

Meanwhile, PBKS’ lead pacer Kagiso Rabada became the fastest to 100 wickets in the IPL, when he had Wriddhiman Saha (30 off 19 balls) caught at deep square leg off a short ball. The South Africa speedster took just 64 games to reach the landmark, six matches fewer than Lasith Malinga’s 70.

Earlier, sent in to bat after the coin landed in favour of the returning GT skipper Hardik, PBKS lost Prabhsimran Singh in the second ball of the over when his attempted flick off a length ball from Mohammed Shami went straight to Rashid Khan at short midwicket.

Prabhsimran departed without scoring. Short walked in at number three and he got off the mark with a boundary, striking the ball through point. The next ball was short, and Short pulled the seasoned India seamer through the square leg region for another four.

Brief scores: Punjab Kings: 153 for 8 in 20 overs (Matthew Short 36; Mohit Sharma 2/18).  Gujarat Titans: 154 for 4 in 19.5 overs (Shubman Gill 67, Wriddhiman Saha 30; Harpreet Brar 1/20).