Forget Rinku Singh’s onslaught in last game; face Punjab Kings today
Post Date – Thu 08:20 AM – 4/13/23
Mohali: Defending champions Gujarat Titans were sore about Rinku Singh’s final blitz as they wanted to forget about the nightmarish night and get back to winning ways against the gritty Punjab Kings on Thursday.
GT had several heroes on that emotional night, including a young Sai Sudarshan, Vijay Shankar and hat-trick man Rashid Khan from Afghanistan, who headed the team in place of an ailing Hardik Pandya. But Rinko had other ideas. When the game looked like it was over, the Uttar Pradesh batsman stunned the home side by plucking the rabbit out of the hat for the Kolkata Knight Riders, smashing a top five in the final over.
The last-ball loss will hurt GT for years to come, but they immediately want to forget about it and move on to the next race. GT are currently fourth in the standings with four points from three games and still have a good chance at the top spot, but for that they will have to pull together against PBKS, who are fast becoming one of the toughest teams to overcome.
On their current form, PBKS’ eight-wicket loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad might just be an aberration, considering the form of their captain Shikhar Dhawan and young left-armed bowler Arshdeep Singh. Dhawan’s match in Hyderabad on April 9 proved the resilience of the stalwart and his ability to keep his composure when the other end came down like skittles.
His 99 in a defeat was a far bigger win than his unbeaten run of 86 against Rajasthan Royals, or his 40 against KKR. , is also much better. GT will be wary of Dhawan’s form, while Hardik will be well aware of how the experienced Delhi cricketer will be eager to prove himself again.
This is likely to be a contest between Dhawan and Shubman Gill, with the former still looking to prove himself and vie for a place in the Indian squad for the ODI World Cup in India later this year. The way Dhawan and young opening partner Prabhsimran Singh exploded in the powerplays suggested they were unlikely to change their strategy against GT, which boasted high-caliber bowlers such as Mohammed Shami, Hardik and Rashid, to name a few.
Further down, PBKS has the most expensive acquisition in IPL history, all-rounder Sam Curran besides Liam Livingstone and Jitesh Sharma, while in the bowling department, Arshdeep and Nathan Ellis have created a lot of problems for opponents. GT has firepower of its own, but with the likes of Gill, top batsman Sudarshan and Shankar (a late bloomer at 32), they are unbeaten with 63 for 24 balls, leading the team to over 200 KKR in total against their opponents.
If it weren’t for Rinku’s breathtaking final mess, Vijay would likely be patted on the back for his brilliant effort. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case and things turned upside down in Yash Dayal’s final game.
GT may revisit their bowling mix to see how they can rotate bowlers more effectively. Their team has four top bowlers in Shami, Josh Little, Alzarri Joseph and Rashid and they should not have lost after posting 204. However, this is the IPL and Rinku is too eager to prove himself.
