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Gujarat Titans debutant Mohit Sharma showed no signs of nerves as he ended up with the best bowling figures for his side of 2/18 in his spell of four overs to restrict Punjab Kings to 153/8 in 20 overs. Alzarri Joseph too contributed with the ball and consistently bowled at 145 Km/hr to keep PBKS batters in check and ended with figures of 1/32 in four overs.
"It was a belter when the new ball was playing. I was not surprised when Mohit and Alzarri came. They bowled terrific. And credit to Mohit. To come join us as a net bowler and then wait for his chance, knowing his time will come and today it came. It will be a tough pill to swallow, taking it this close. Not a big fan of taking the game to the last over, " said Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya in the post-match presentation ceremony. Gujarat team reached the 50-run mark in five overs and by the end of the powerplay, they were 56/1 in six overs. But despite the flying start, the Hardik Pandya-led side won the match in the last over and they required four runs off the last two balls when Rahul Tewatia went on to hit the winning run. "To be very honest, I would not appreciate the game to go this close from the situation we were in. There was definitely a lot for us to learn from this game. That's the beauty of sports, it's never over till it's over. So we will go back to the drawing board. I think we can take a couple more risks in the middle overs. The wicket was good but because of the hardness of the soil and wicket, the ball was getting dried up," said Hardik Pandya. With this win, defending champion Gujarat Titans have reached the third position in the points table with three wins in four games behind Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants are ahead due to a better run rate. (ANI)
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