Gujarat Titans defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets in the Indian Premier League 2024 match, in Ahmedabad on March 31.

Chasing a target of 163, Gujrat Titans finished the match with five balls riding on some excellent batting from all the top order batsmen.

Captain Shubman Gill (36) and Wriddhiman Saha (25) gave Gujarat Titans a good start putting on 36 runs in just 4.1 overs. After losing Saha, Shubman Gill and Sai Sudarshan (45) played sensibly and put on 38 runs in 5 overs. Despite the loss of Shubman Gill, Sai Sudarshan and David Miller added 64 runs in 7 overs.

GT lost Sai Sudarshan with the score at 138. Then David Miller (44 not out) played a brilliant knock and with the help of Vijay Shankar (14 not out) took their team to victory with seven wickets in hand.

Mohit Sharma (3 for 25) was named the player-of-the-match for his sensational bowling which restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad for 162.

For Sunrisers Hyderabad, Shahbaz Ahmed (1 for 20), Mayank Markande (1 for 33) and captain Pat Cummins (1 for 28) were the wicket-takers.

Earlier, Mohit Sharma straightjacketed the batters in death overs after Afghan spin twins Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad had tightened the noose in the middle overs as Gujarat Titans restricted the high-flying Sunrisers Hyderabad to a modest 162 for 8 in their IPL match in Ahmedabad on March 31.

Fresh from smashing a record 277 in their last game, SRH were going great guns with 56/1 inside the power-play but the young and experienced Afghan wrist spin duo of Noor (1/32) and Rashid (1/33) turned the match on its head.

Noor dismissed the in-form SRH opener Travis Head (19), while Rashid sent back explosive Heinrich Klaasen (24) against the run of play.

The intermittent wickets Rashid also took a brilliant diving catch at the deep to dismiss Aiden Markram as SRH faltered badly at the back end. They managed just 40 runs and lost five wickets in the last five overs.

Mohit then shone at the death, dismissing Shahbaz Ahmed (22) and Washington Sundar (0) off successive balls. He returned impressive figures of 4-0-25-3 as SRH managed just three runs in the last over.

After plundering runs at an astonishing pace in their last game, the Orange Army had little hesitation in opting to bat first and dictate the pace of the game with Travis Head up front.

The Aussie left-hander kept charging in, while Mayank Agarwal (16) once again looked out of sorts before being dismissed by Azmatullah Omarzai.

Last match hero Abhishek Sharma smashed Rashid for two sixes on both the sides and it revived memories of his last match partnership with Head.

But left-arm wrist spinner Noor bowled a superb first over to peg SRH back from being 56/1 after the power-play.

The in-form destrcutive SRH opener Head unleashed a slog sweep as the 19-year-old Afghan spinner tricked him with a wrong one. The ball pitched on his off-stump before sharply turning in to crash into the middle-stump.

Runs suddenly dried up with Rashid conceding just four runs from his second over as both the wrist spinners bowled superbly in tandem to squeeze SRH in.

A captaincy masterstroke by Shubman Gill to bowl Mohit the 10th over resulted in another wicket when the veteran seamer dismissed a well-set Abhishek (29).

The left-hander sliced it straight to Gill at extra-cover in what seemed a perfect set-up for the young Indian batter.

But Klaasen ensured that the lull does not stay longer as he charged the young Noor in his last over for two slog sweeps over midwicket boundary.

Rashid however had the last laugh as he cut short the innings of SRH six-hitting machine Klaasen in the 14th over.

The South African completely missed Rashid’s googly to be cleaned up against the run of play.

In the next over, Rashid made all the difference with his splendid diving catch at deep to dismiss Aiden Markram (17).

Markram took charge of a Yadav slower delivery as Rashid at long on ran forward, adjusted at the last moment to take a stunning diving catch tumbling forward.

Scoreboard

Sunrisers Hyderabad Innings: Mayank Agarwal c Darshan Nalkande b Azmatullah 16 Travis Head b Noor Ahmad 19 Abhishek Sharma c Shubman Gill b Mohit Sharma 29 Aiden Markram c Rashid Khan b Umesh 17 Heinrich Klaasen b Rashid Khan 24 Shahbaz Ahmed c Rahul Tewatia b Mohit Sharma 22 Abdul Samad run out (Noor Ahmad/W Saha) 29 Washington Sundar c Rashid Khan b Mohit Sharma Pat Cummins not out 2 Extras: (LB-2, W-2) 4

Total: (8 wkts, 20 Overs) 162

Fall of Wickets: 1-34, 2-58, 3-74, 4-108, 5-114, 6-159, 7-159, 8-162.

Gujarat Titans bowling: Azmatullah Omarzai 3-0-24-1, Umesh Yadav 3-0-28-1, Rashid Khan 4-0-33-1, Noor Ahmad 4-0-32-1, Mohit Sharma 4-0-0-25-3, Darshan Nalkande 2-0-18-0.

Gujarat Titans innings: Wriddhiman Saha c Pat Cummins b Shahbaz Ahmed 25; Shubman Gill c Abdul Samad b Mayank Markande 36; Sai Sudarshan c Abdul Samad b Pat Cummins 45; David Miller not out 44; Vijay Shankar not out 14. Extras: 4.

Total: 168 for 3 in 19.1 overs.

Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-0-27-0; Shahbaz Ahmed 2-0-20-1; Jaydev Unadkat 3.1-0-33-0; Washington Sundar 3-0-27-0; Mayank Markande 3-0-33-1; Pat Cummins 4-0-28-1.

(with inputs from PTI)