Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], May 2 : Clinical Gujarat Titans hammered a massive total on the board and then maintained their composure with a spirited performance to bag two points against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Ahmedabad on Friday in the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League.
With a thumping 38-run triumph, GT moved to the second spot behind table-toppers Mumbai Indians, with 14 points each, separated by net run rate.
Hyderabad began the nail-biting 225-run chase with Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma going berserk in the powerplay, leaving no stone unturned to make Gujarat perish.
Abhishek and Head both played the role of aggressor, pummelling Mohammed Siraj and Ishant Sharma to muster up a whopping 45 runs from the first four overs.
Prasidh Krishna was introduced into the attack to force a breakthrough and instantly reaped the rewards. Head tried to take on Prasidh by taking the aerial route, but couldn't scale much distance.
With his eyes glued to the ball, Rashid sprinted towards the landing zone, dived to his right, and took a stunner that pleased his eyes, forcing the Australian to return with 20(16).
Ishan Kishan walked in and delivered yet another scratchy 13(17). His rustic knock ended at the hands of Gerald Coetzee, who lured out a top edge that flew to Prasidh.
Heinrich Klaasen and Abhishek joined hands at the crease and tried to lead a counterattack. The duo took on Rashid Khan and tonked two maximums, trying to reduce the asking rate.
Abhishek brought up his sizzling fifty by thumping the ball over long leg. He continued to attack Rashid with a six and a four to reduce the asking rate.
As a faint glimmer of hope engulfed the Hyderabad camp, Ishant took it away in a single moment. Abhishek (74) couldn't get under the pull and dispatched the ball straight to Siraj.
Klaasen (23) followed his partner's footsteps, which led to the dressing room, after edging the ball away to Jos Buttler behind the stumps. Hyderabad's chase completely derailed after Siraj struck on back-to-back deliveries to put the final nail in the coffin.
Nitish Reddy flexed his boundary-hitting muscle with a couple of sixes in the death overs. Before the 19th over, Gujarat Titans were well behind the over-rate and got penalised. An extra fielder was made to come inside the circle. The game was done and dusted, with Hyderabad requiring 44 runs in the final over.
With the required rate out of reach, Nitish and Cummins saw through the over and eventually surrendered to a 38-run defeat.
Earlier in the match, SRH skipper Pat Cummins won the toss and elected to bowl first in the 51st encounter of the ongoing 18th edition of the cash-rich league at the iconic Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Batters Shubman Gill and Sai Sudarsha came out in the middle to open the innings for the hosts. Both of them started attacking the bowlers from the first over.
The Gujarat-based franchise touched the 50-run mark in the fourth over as Gill slammed a six off the right-arm seamer Pat Cummins.
After four overs, GT were 53/0 with Sai Sudarshan (27) and Shubman Gill (25) unbeaten on the crease.
Leg-spinner Zeeshan Ansari took the first wicket as he dismissed Sai Sudarshan on the penultimate ball of the seventh over. The left-hand batter was sent back to the pavilion after scoring 48 runs off just 23 balls, which came with the help of nine fours.
Following Sudarshan's dismissal, the wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler came out to bat in the middle along with Gill.
GT completed 100 runs in 8.2 overs as Buttler smashed a sublime shot for a six on the bowling of Zeeshan Ansari.
Gill was the second one to fall. The right-hand batter (76 runs off 38 balls) returned to the dressing room in the 13th over through a run-out.
The Shubman Gill-led side completed the 150-run mark in the 14th over.
Buttler scored a six to take GT past the 200-run mark, but the Englishman had to depart after sending it straight into the hands of Abhishek after scoring 64 runs in 37 balls.
Ultimately, Washington Sundar played a cameo, which took the Gujarat Titans to 224/6 in their 20 overs.
For the Pat Cummins-led side, the pick of the bowlers was Jaydev Unadkat, who snapped three wickets in his four overs, where he conceded 35 runs in his spell. Each wicket was bagged by Pat Cummins (1/40) and Zeeshan Ansari (1/42) in their respective four overs.