In the 18th match of IPL 2023, Gujarat Titans defeated Punjab Kings by six wickets. This is Gujarat's third win this season. With this victory, the Gujarat team moved to the third position in the points table with six points. In the last match, Gujarat captain Hardik Pandya did not play and his team lost the match after reaching the threshold of victory. However, as soon as he returned to this match, the Gujarat team returned to the winning track.
Batting first, Punjab Kings scored 153 runs losing eight wickets. Matthew Short scored the maximum 36 runs for Punjab. At the same time, Mohit Sharma took two wickets for Gujarat. The Gujarat team won the match by scoring 154 runs for four wickets in 19.5 overs. Shubman Gill, who scored 67 runs, was the biggest contributor to Gujarat Titans' victory. Gill, who was born in Punjab and played domestic cricket for the same state, became the reason for the defeat of the Punjab Kings.
Punjab's bad start
Hardik Pandya won the toss and called Punjab to bat. In the very first over, Mohammed Shami sent Prabhsimran Singh to the pavilion at zero. Captain Shikhar Dhawan, who scored an unbeaten 99 in the last match against Hyderabad, did not walk today. He was dismissed by Joshua Little for eight runs. Matthew Short, who is making a splash in the Australian Big Bash League, hit six fours and a six in the powerplay, due to which Punjab scored 52 runs in six overs, but in the seventh over, Rashid Khan bowled Short for 36 runs. Gave.
Rajapaksa's slow innings spoiled Punjab's game
After the fall of three wickets, the pace of runs slowed down, but Jitesh Sharma shared a 37-run partnership with Bhanuka Rajapaksa. Here Mohit Sharma dismissed Jitesh with a personal score of 25. Rajapaksa was also dismissed after scoring a very slow 20 runs in 26 balls. Sam Curran and Shah Rukh Khan showed some good hands towards the end, taking Punjab to 153. Shahrukh Khan was run out after scoring 22 runs in nine balls. At the same time, Mohit dismissed Sam Karan.
