IPL: Punjab Kings brought to their knees
Deepankar Sharda
Mohali, April 21
Punjab Kings ended their disappointing run at the Mullanpur stadium with a fourth consecutive defeat, going down to Gujarat Titans by three wickets.
Punjab, who have been among the worst performing batting teams in the powerplay this season, made a brisk start to reach 45 for no loss in five overs, with the help of Prabhsimran Singh and Sam Curran. However, their innings went downhill as Prabhsimran (35 off 21) fell in the sixth over, bowled by Mohit Sharma (2/32).
Thereafter, the spinning trio of Sai Kishore (4/33), Noor Ahmed (2/20) and Rashid Khan (1/15) exposed the host team’s batting frailties with their guile. Wickets fell at regular intervals as Punjab slumped to 99/7 before Harpreet Brar (29 off 12) helped the team go past the 140-run mark.
The story of the GT batters was no different as they struggled to chase down the modest target. After Shubman Gill scored a patient 35 off 29, Rahul Tewatia provided the late flourish with an unbeaten 36 off 18 to see the chase through.
Top-order woes
This season, Punjab’s top-order has been underwhelming. In eight innings, the Kings’ top-five have scored at a poor average of 19.07, with just two half-centuries. In fact, Shashank Singh (195 runs in eight matches at an average of 48.75 and a strike rate of 168) and Ashutosh Sharma (159 runs in five matches at an average of 39.75 and a strike rate of over 189) have been doing most of the heavy lifting.
