Gujarat Titans opening batsman Sai Sudharsan creamed his way to a 100 off 57 balls, which went a long way in his side reaching the final score of 205 in 20 overs. The southpaw put on 128 runs for the first wicket with his captain, Shubman Gill, who did not get as much strike as he may have wanted during their stand in the middle.
While appreciating the left-hander for his knock, Gill said that he hoped he got to play a few more balls in the powerplay in subsequent matches. He also admitted that the left-hander was disappointed with getting out when he did. In the first six overs of powerplay, Gill faced just seven balls as Sudharsan dominated strike, scoring 46 off the 29 balls he faced.
“He was quite upset how he got out in the last two games, and I hope he gives more strike to me in the powerplay in the next game,” Gill said in the post-match presentation on Friday.
Despite the blazing start, were unable to fully capitalise on the platform laid by their openers. From 128 without loss, the innings lost momentum in the middle phase, eventually finishing on 205/3, which proved to be a par score that still fell short in the context of the game.
Reflecting on the slowdown, Gill pointed to a crucial phase where the innings stalled just after the powerplay.
Gujarat were 155/1 in 15 overs, but when they lost Sai Sudharsan, the managed to score four runs in the 17th over, five runs (while losing a wicket in the 18th over) and eight runs in the 19th over. None of these three overs yielded a boundary.
“Yeah, definitely, I think from 16 till 19, those three overs, we couldn’t get any boundaries and we didn’t get as many runs as we would have liked. I think those three overs were very crucial for us. At the end of the powerplay, I think we were in a good position. It was all about taking wickets in the middle overs, which I think we were not able to just after the powerplay got over,” he said.
If ’s innings lost steam after a flying start, their bowling effort in defence never quite recovered from a pivotal early lapse. Virat Kohli was dropped off the very first delivery of the chase and made them pay heavily, going on to score 81 off 44 balls and setting the tone for the pursuit.
Gill admitted that while there were moments with the ball, the attack struggled to maintain control through consistent execution.
“I mean, when a batsman gets dropped or not, it’s always tough on the fielder, but I think it’s important how you come back in the game. And with the ball, I think we had our moments, but I don’t think we were able to consistently hit the length ball, which was at times difficult to hit on this wicket. And you know, some balls here and there, and I think they batted brilliantly in the middle overs,” he said.
