IPL 2023 Live Report - Punjab Kings vs Gujarat Titans, Mohali

What a match! Seemed destined to a straightforward finish with Titans cruising. Gill was bossing and holding one end up. Yet another half-century from him and his partnership with Miller almost saw them home. Almost. Kings never let them run away towards the end, despite Rabada's final over going for 12. Arshdeep then gave away just six in the penultimate over to leave Curran with seven to defend. He almost did it before Tewatia intervened.

The story of the day, perhaps, would be the comeback of Mohit Sharma. He was part of Titans' nets last year, doing the hard yards. Was given a chance today and shone. PIcked up two middle-order wickets bowling mostly in the middle overs and one at the death. He never let Kings get away and bowled at good pace too.

Third win for Titans this year, they move to third on the table. Two wins and two losses in four games for Kings.

Once again, a last-over end. Once again a four-hour T20. We carry on! Thanks for your company.

It's chaotic. It's tense. It's noisy. It's lively. None of it matter for our guy, Rahul Tewatia. Curran nailed his yorkers on the third and fourth ball. The second of that almost resulted in a run-out at either ends. Miller scampered, dived and slid his way to the other end. And Titans needed 4 off 2.

Tewatia on strike. Curran from over the wicket. Bowls it on a full length on middle. Tewatia walks across and scoops it well over short fine leg. Thumps the Titans badge on his jersey. No words spoken. Feelings loud and clear! Titans have yet another last-over win. Tewatia once again in the middle of it with the winning runs.

Seven needed of six. Miller thumps a length ball towards cover where Rishi Dhawan throws himself and prevents a four and almost runs Gill out. And then, Curran gets the big fish. Ice cool Gill looks to play across the line and sees the off stump knocked out. Curran soars. So does the decibel level in Mohali, where he has a hat-trick.

Bowls an economical penultimate over to ensure another last-over finish!

This shot probably won't get many mentions. It would have on another day. Titans have the win within sights when Rabada is brought on for his last. He bowls one back of a length. It is not too short. It is fast. Gill is as elegant playing the pull as he is with the drive. He just transfers his weight back and heaves it cross bat over deep midwicket. 81 metres. Out of here. Gill also pulls the last ball of that over for four. Rabada finishes with 4-0-36-1. All over for practical purposes.

This is Gill's year and we are living in it, eh? He's scored a century for India in a T20I and ODI too. This was after he scored a double ton in ODIs last year. And now in the IPL, he began with a half-century against Super Kings and has brought up another one tonight. A glorious, lofted extra cover drive to get to the mark. Carry on, young man!

B Sai Sudharsan has impressed one and all with his strokeplay in IPL 2023. Starting the tournament with a 22 against Chennai Super Kings, he amped it up by scoring back-to-back half-centuries against Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders. On a surface where stroke-making hasn't been the easiest and in pursuit of a below-par target, Sai Sudharsan was getting into his zone. But Dhawan brought back Arshdeep Singh for his third over in the 11th. Result? A bouncer angling into Sai Sudharsan was pulled straight to fine leg.

Hardik Pandya has joined Gill in the middle.

Kings scored 23 for 1 in the four overs after the powerplay. Titans have 24 for 0 in the corresponding phase.

Harpreet Brar's second over goes for just two, with Gill on 36 off 26 and Sai Sudharsan on 13 off 15.

Saha was flying away. He was driving them with grace. Pulling them with disdain. And top-edging and toe-edging them as if they are meant to be. As a result, he had raced to 30 off just 18 balls. Enters Kagiso Rabada. Cramps him for room with length and pace. Then offers width, gets glided through point for two. Then gets pulled via the toe-end for two. And then the bumper that gets Saha. He seemed to have middled it but ended up finding Short at deep square leg. A century of wickets in the IPL for Rabada.

Sai Sudharsan has already put in a reminder of his class and talent - a punch through point for four to get going. Titans 52 for 1 after five overs.

Titans are off to a flier and are 36 for 0 after three overs. Saha has sped to 24 off just 12 balls and is just relishing pace on the ball. In the last two years in the IPL, Saha has scored freely in the powerplay against pacers but has slowed down against spin. Time for Kings to change the speed?

Update: On cue, left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar brought on.

Kings bring in Rahul Chahar for Bhanuka Rajapaksa.

Kings yet again were probably let down by their batters. Dhawan couldn't get going. Short showed his wares with some excellent strokeplay. Shahrukh then flexed his muscles at the end. But apart from that, the other contributions were nothing to write home about.

Titans' hero with the ball was Mohit with a couple of wickets while Rashid also tied up the batters in the middle overs.

Mohit Sharma has made a stellar comeback to IPL, after having made only one appearance each in 2019 and 2020. He finished with 2 for 18 in his four overs, dismissing Jitesh and Curran. This is Mohit's second-best economical four-over spell in the IPL, behind his 3.50 vs Mumbai Indians in 2014.

Joseph targeted the pads of both the left-handers in Rajapaksa and Curran and was largely successful in trying them up. He ended Rajapaksa's misery to have him chip a full toss to deep midwicket.

Shahrukh Khan, though, started off in a blistering way like his namesake did in Bollywood. He heaved a 147.7 kph back of a length ball way over deep midwicket to evoke cheers from the Mohali crowd.

In IPL 2022 and 2023 combined, Titans' economy rate (before tonight) in the death overs has been the least. They head into the final phase tonight with one over each from Shami, Joseph, Mohit and Little in the bank. They haven't used Hardik Pandya's bowling services and during the match, Matthew Wade told the broadcaster that he won't be bowling tonight.

At the end of the powerplay, Kings were cruising at 52 for 2. Matthew Short was going strong and the projected score for Kings was 166. Since then they have lost two more wickets and have struggled to maintain the tempo. A set Bhanuka Rajapaksa could be key but he hasn't looked very fluent.

Mohit Sharma used the opportunity to pick up his first IPL wicket since September 2020. He managed to have Jitesh Sharma caught behind, thanks to the keen ears of Wriddhiman Saha. He caught the ball and was the only one appealing, and also managed to convince captain Pandya for the review.

Matthew Short had an excellent BBL 12, scoring 458 runs at a strike-rate of 144.47 to go with his 11 wickets. He scored 232 runs off just 171 in the powerplay in that competition, the most for any player in the first six overs. Today, Short once again flew off to a flier in the first six overs, taking just 22 balls to score 35 of Kings' 52.

But using ball-by-ball data available on him, our stats guy Shiva Jayaraman quietly passed me this - Short scored only 116 runs off the 104 balls faced against leggies, averaging 14.5 against them. In BBL 12, he was out twice in the 24 balls he faced against legspinners. And on cue, his Adelaide Strikers team-mate Rashid Khan gets the better of him tonight.

Josh Little is on the board. He got one to nip back in from a length, which Dhawan seemed to have missed flicking. TItans opted for the review, only to find out via Snicko that there was a feather. On the next ball, Dhawan looks to attack and slinks down the track and go over the top. Ends up skying it over mid-on. Alzarri Joseph runs backward keeping his eyes on the ball and pouches it.

Bhanuka Rajapaksa is in at No. 4.

Shami began with a length ball around middle, that saw a mix-up between Prabhsimran and Dhawan in an attempt for a quick run. On the second ball, he had Prabhsimran flick one to midwicket. It was a length ball and the shot was quite on. But the balln just held on the surface a touch, which meant that Prabh was earlier into the shot that he would have liked. Matthew Short, who had a fantastic BBL season, then struck him for back-to-back fours to get going.

Mohit Sharma makes his first appearance for Gujarat Titans, his fourth team in the IPL after CSK, Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab. He last played a game for Capitals in 2020 against KXIP (now Punjab Kings) and marks his IPL return against Kings. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament last season, Mohit picked up six wickets in eight games for Haryana at an economy of 6.46. Overall in the IPL, Mohit has been economical in the middle overs (overs 7 to 16) and has an economy rate of over 10 at the death and close to 8 in the powerplay. What role would Titans have given Mohit tonight?

Hardik Pandya is back for Titans, after he missed the last outing due to illness. They have a debutant in Mohit Sharma, who last played an IPL game in 2020. So that leaves no room for both of Vijay Shankar and Abhinav Manohar in the XI for them. Both have been named in the sub though and one of them could be the Impact Player when they chase. So no Yash Dayal for them tonight.

Kings have brought in Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Kagiso Rabada for Nathan Ellis and Sikandar Raza. Leggie Rahuh Chahar looks likely to be the Impact Player when they come in to bowl later in the evening.

Gujarat Titans: Saha (wk), Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Pandya (capt), Miller, Tewatia, Rashid, Joseph, Shami, Mohit, Little
Subs: Vijay S, Mavi, Manohar, Bharat

Punjab Kings: S Dhawan (capt), Prabhsimran, Short, Rajapaksa, Curran, Jitesh, Shahrukh, Brar, Rabada, R Dhawan, Arshdeep
Subs: Taide, Chahar, Raza, Bhatia

undefined

Liam Livingstone, who's been out of action since December last year, joined Punjab Kings' unit a couple of days ago. Will he play today? It is the first game of IPL 2023 in Mohali, where batters should have fun.