GT vs SRH 21st Match, IPL 2022

Arya: Earlier in the day it was Williamson who won the toss and put Gujarat Titans in. The start was quite exceptional for the Gujarat Titans as Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded 17 runs in the very first over. However, he redeemed hismelf with the wicket of Gill as Rahul Tripathi literally flew to his left to hang on to the steepler. Sai Sudarshan played some good shots before perishing. 

Hardik Pandya again batted at No 4 and tried to resurrect the innings with Umran Malik. He got hit on the grill of the helmet by a rapid Umran Malik delivery but his reply was exceptional as he smashed the youngster for back to back boundaries. He played some delightful shots during his half-century but the strike rate could have been a bit higher which might have helped Gujarat post that par total. 

Abhinav Manohar played some good shots but got three reprieves and eventually managed to score 35 of 21 deliveries. T Natarajan then bowled a fantastic final over bagging the wicket of Rashid Khan in the final delivery to restrict them to 162.

Arya: It was certainly a below-par score put up by the Gujarat Titans in the first innings but a required rate of over 8 can always be challenging. The opening duo of Kane Williamson and Abhishek Sharma started steadily. They were troubled by the opening spell of Mohammed Shami and Williamson would have been a goner had Hardik Pandya gone for the review in the very first over when he was trapped in front by Shami. The bowler himself didn’t look too interested but Mathew Wade behind the stumps had suggested that it looked very close. 

The captain took the new ball with Shami and bowled two tight overs upfront to put SRH under pressure. However, it was the 5th over which proved to be the release over for the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Abhishek Sharma struck four boundaries in that Lockie Ferguson over to give that much-needed impetus to the run-chase. He again batted very well and went onto score a fluent 42 before perishing at the hands of Rashid Khan. 

Rahul Tripathi came in at the fall of Abhishek Sharma’s wicket and looked in great touch. However, he was forced to leave the ground after cramping up on the same delivery where he struck a six. Pooran came out to bat and batted sensibly to ensure that SRH was well on course of the target. Williamson began pretty slowly but then caught up by smashing some lusty blows of Hardik Pandya in his 3rd over. 

He also helped one over the keeper’s head of his fellow countryman Lockie Ferguson and struck a four to get the equation down with manageable limits. However, it was skipper Hardik Pandya who kept Gujarat Titans in the match by bagging the much-needed wicket of the SRH skipper in the first delivery of the 17th over. However, Pooran had other ideas and along with Aiden Markram made light work of the target in the end reaching the target with a six of Nalkande. 

Arya: A comprehensive victory in the end for the Sunrisers Hyderabad as they make it two in two after losing their first two outings. Led by skipper Kane Williamson, Hyderabad eventually reached the target with five deliveries to spare as Pooran smashed Nalkande for a massive six to seal the deal for the Orange Army. This will certainly give them a lot of confidence going deep into the tournament.