 "Shashank Singh played a starring role in Punjab Kings' dramatic three-wicket victory over Gujarat Titans in their IPL 2024 clash in Ahmedabad. AP")
We’re a little over two weeks into the 17th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and it is turning into a breakthrough season for a number of uncapped Indian players already, from Lucknow Super Giants pacer Mayank Yadav to Chennai Super Kings’ Sameer Rizvi.
On Thursday, it was 32-year-old Shashank Singh’s turn to shine as he starred in Punjab Kings’ thrilling three-wicket victory over Gujarat Titans at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, rescuing the 2014 runners-up from a near-hopeless position to ensure they didn’t suffer a third defeat in a row and also won their first game on the road.
Photos | Shashank shines against GT as PBKS collect first away win of IPL 2024
As for 2022 champions GT, the defeat was their first at their home ground and one that will force skipper Shubman Gill, head coach Ashish Nehra and team mentor Gary Kirsten to go back to the drawing board.
Before we shift our attention to the next match on the fixtures list, between Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Hyderabad on Friday, we take a look at some of the top moments from the GT-PBKS encounter, the latest thriller in what has been an action-packed couple of weeks so far:
Gill slams first fifty of the season
That Gujarat were able to post a competitive 199/4 on the board was largely down to a captain’s knock from Gill, who carried his bat through the innings and remained unbeaten on 89 off just 48 deliveries. Not only did he collect his first half-century of the 17th season, smashing six fours and four sixes along the way, he fell just 11 runs short of what would have been his fourth century in the IPL.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsGill was in a league of his own on Thursday, and what stood out in his knock was the manner in which he took the attack to senior Punjab pacer Kagiso Rabada, whom he collected two maximums off including one straight down the ground towards the sight screen.
Kane returns to the IPL
Both GT and PBKS made one change each to their XIs due to injury — while Punjab replaced Liam Livingstone with Sikandar Raza, Gujarat brought in Kane Williamson for David Miller.
The occasion couldn’t be more special for Williamson as he was making his first appearance at the cash-rich league since the opening game of last year’s edition, in which he had suffered a knee injury that cut his season short and ensured he wouldn’t return to action until the ICC World Cup in October later that year.
Williamson ended up collecting 26 off 22 balls in his first outing for GT in more than a year, collecting four boundaries along the way before getting dismissed off Harpreet Brar’s bowling.
Rashid completes a fifty as well
Star leg-spinner Rashid Khan completed a half-century of his own on Thursday, becoming the first Gujarat Titans bowler to 50 wickets after dismissing Punjab wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma, who holed out to Darshan Nalkande at deep midwicket while trying to smash the Afghan for a third consecutive six in the 16th over.
Rashid had only recently surpassed India pacer Mohammed Shami to become the leading wicket-taker for the franchise, and has now added another feather to his cap. Barring the milestone, however, it wasn’t quite Rashid’s day at Motera as he ended up leaking 40 runs after bowling out his quota of overs.
Noor’s twin strike
PBKS had recovered well after losing the wicket of skipper Shikhar Dhawan early in their innings, with fellow opener Jonny Bairstow (22) stitching an aggressive second-wicket stand with Prabhsimran Singh (35) that was worth 35.
Gill decided to introduce spin towards the end of the powerplay, and the move clicked right away as left-arm spinner Noor Ahmad struck twice in as many overs with a pair of googlies to push the Kings to the back-foot.
Noor bamboozled Bairstow with a beauty that hurried onto the English batter and managed to sneak through the tiny gap between bat and pad to crash into the stumps, while Prabhsimran got a thick outside edge that resulted in a simple catch for Mohit Sharma at short third.
Ashutosh’s valuable cameo
It was the arrival of Impact Player Ashutosh Sharma in the 16th over and his explosive knock of 31 off just 17 deliveries that helped take some pressure off Shashank’s back and allowed him play more freely.
Ashutosh, who like Shashank had been acquired by PBKS at his base price of Rs 20 lakh in the player auction, was making his maiden appearance in the IPL on Thursday after replacing Arshdeep Singh in the starting XI. And there might have been a few initial nerves has he was initially going at a steady pace, collecting seven runs in as many deliveries as Punjab were left needing 41 off 18.
In the end, he grabbed the opportunity with both hands as he collected three boundaries in the 18th over, in which Azmatullah Omarzai went for 16 runs, before smashing Mohit for a six in the 19th. And while he was dismissed by Darshan Nalkande at the start of the final over, his presence had helped bring the equation down to a little over a run-a-ball.
Shashank saves the day
Shashank’s unbeaten 61 off just 29 balls ended up outshining Shubman Gill’s unbeaten 89 off 48 balls as the 32-year-old delivered the biggest performance of his career so far.
Not only did the Chhattisgarh batter, who had started his domestic journey with Mumbai, bring up his maiden half-century in only his second IPL season, he made it even more special by delivering Punjab a win for the ages and helping lift some of the gloom that had descended over their dressing room after back-to-back defeats in their last two outings.
Read | All you need to know about Shashank Singh, Punjab Kings’ hero in Ahmedabad
What mattered was the fact that even when wickets were tumbling at the other end and the target appeared quite out of reach at one point, Shashank refused to give up and stuck around till the very end and got his team over the line in thrilling fashion.