The Punjab kings beat Gujrat Titans by eight wickets, and a comfortable victory has fallen upon them here in DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Gujrat, after winning the toss, opted to bat first. The strategy was to impose a huge score and then restrict the opponent. But Rabada was bowling at his best; his easy picking up of wickets helped PBKS restrict their opponent at 143 for 8. Moreover, he claimed four precious wickets, which initially powered PBKS to be successful while bowling. Sandip Sharma also kept the GT batters under pressure, only allowing a 4.25 run rate in his four overs.
Among the GT batters, none but Sudharsan was impressive. Even after his outstanding knock of 65 out of 50 balls, GT wrapped up with a risky and chaseable score. None but him from the GT side had any sparkle with the bat this evening. Gill was dismissed in an unfortunate run-out while trying to rotate the score with a quick single. But Rishi Dhawan was quickly on to the ball, and eventually, he hit the stumps. Saha was looking good. He hammered a six against Rabada but was ultimately dismissed. The bouncer was not well tackled; Saha skewed a catch in mid-off.
But apart from Sudharsan – from Pandya, the skipper, Miller, Tewatia, and Khan were relatively unimpressive on this day. All of the three were dismissed for low scores. Mainly Rashid seemed almost to throw his wicket, opening the leading face of the bat he was caught behind.
The way PBKS chased the run showed effortless dominance over their opponents. The PBKS innings were opened by Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow, the English keeper. Bairstow, however, remained unsuccessful even after the strategic reversal of the batting order; he returned to the dressing room with a poor 1. While pulling Md. Shami’s one-half bounce, the ball got his top-edge and landed into the safe arms of the man at the deep fine leg.
Dhawan and Rajapaksa then started taking charge, the powerful strokes they were playing from the beginning included a biggie through the third man and a wristy flick through the fine leg by Dhawan, and Rajapaksa also was smashing back to back boundaries. Then, with a fuller dominance, they reached 74 with one wicket down.
Dhawan eventually cracked a spectacular knock of unbeaten 62 out of 53 balls. Rajapaksa also extended assistance of a pretty 40 out of 28. Dhawan, however, played the critical role, and the difference was made; he completed his half-century in style by power-punching Ferguson through mid-off for a boundary.
Livingston also had played a pivotal role, and he ended the match with four overs to spare. He hammered three consequent sixes and a couple of boundaries to finish off in style. He remained unbeaten in 30 out of ten deliveries.
Rabada was awarded man of the match that day, and his performance was crucial for restricting GT to such a low score. You cannot now miss picking such a bowler in your fantasy cricket team. These splendid performances and the consistency are key here. Fantasy cricket is a virtual platform where millions of cricket lovers create their teams after deeply considering the players’ performances in the actual matches. It involves a lot of analysis and skill that only a true cricket fan possesses.
