PBKS veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan notched up an unbeaten half-century to guide his side to a eight-wicket victory over GT in the IPL 2022.
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Opener Shikhar Dhawan (62 not out) played a well composed knock to guide PBKS to a eight-wicket victory over table-toppers GT in the IPL 2022 contest at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai on Tuesday to stay alive in the playoffs. The win helped the Punjab franchise stay alive in the crunch race to the IPL 2022 playoffs with 10 points from as many matches in their kitty.
READ MORE: IPL 2022 GT vs PBKS: Punjab Kings expose Gujarat Titans’ batting problems
In the chase, PBKS lost Jonny Bairstow (1) early. But Dhawan anchored the innings and scored his third IPL 2022 half-century to take them past the finishing line. His incoming partner Bhanuka Rajapaksa (40 off 28 deliveries) and Liam Livingstone (30 off 10 balls), meanwhile, contributed with decisive cameos to make the chase look easy. Rajapaksa hit five boundaries and one six in his unbeaten knock while Livingstone smashed two four and three hits over the fence.
Earlier, PBKS pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada picked up a four-wicket haul to restrict table toppers GT to 143/8 in the IPL 2022. It was a batting collapse for the debutant franchise in the lucrative tournament after their captain opted to bat with only their top-order batter Sai Sudharsan (64 not out) showing some resilience with his unbeaten knock. The opening pair of GT — Wriddhiman Saha (21) and Shubman Gill (9) — managed to forge a 17-run stand before the latter was sent packing. Saha hit three boundaries and one six in his 17-ball stay but failed to convert his start into a big total. However, Sudharsan, ensured to hold the fort for the Ahmedabad franchise with wickets falling at regular intervals of time from the other end.
GT captain Hardik Pandya was sent packing for 1 run while incoming batters David Miller (11), Rahul Tewatia (11), Rashid Khan (0) , Pradeep Sangwan (2), Lockie Ferguson (5), Alzarri Joseph (4 not out) following suit in quick succession as they failed to withstand some fierce bowling from the PBKS attack. Sudharsan, meanwhile, remained unbeaten in a 50-ball stay which included five boundaries and one hit over the fence.
In a day to forget for GT, courtesy of some fine bowling produced by the PBKS bowlers, Rabada shone the most. The South African fast bowler ran through the GT middle and lower-order to return figures of 4/33 while Arshdeep Singh, Rishi Dhawan and Liam Livingstone chipped in with a wicket each.
