Match 40 - IPL - sportstiger

Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL

The Gujarat Titans have emerged as the most dominant team in the IPL as they defeated the Sunrisers Hyderabad in another thrilling victory. SRH had a great batting performance as Abhishek Sharma smashed a scintillating 65 in 42 balls while Aiden Markram also scored 56. They put up 195 in their 20 overs as Shashank Singh had an amazing cameo of 25 runs in six balls.

In the second innings, Wriddhiman Saha had a great half-century but in the end, it was another Rahul Tewatia finish as he scored 40 in 21 balls. He also received great support from Rashid Khan who also scored 31 in 11 balls, taking the Titans home by five wickets.

Changes in the points table

After the 40th match of the IPL, Gujarat Titans sit at the top of the table with 14 points from eight games. They also have a net run rate of +0.371. Whereas the Sunrisers Hyderabad is third on the table with 10 points from eight games with a net run rate of +0.600.

Today’s matchup

The Delhi Capitals will face Kolkata Knight Riders in their second matchup of the season. In their meeting, Delhi had an incredible 44-run victory. Similarly, both these teams enter this match after losing their previous games. KKR lost to the Gujarat Titans by eight runs, whereas DC was defeated by Rajasthan Royals.

What did the captains?

The winning captain Hardik Pandya expressed his elation after the victory and said, “I keep joking in the dressing room that God is telling us 'You guys are good, I'll help you'. It's happening so often that I fear we may run out of luck in the knockout games. We keep a very chilled atmosphere and everyone is stepping up. We're ensuring that the players are backed well."

Talking on his bowling fitness, he said, "It's just a conscious decision to manage my bowling, plan is to bowl whenever the team needs me.”

“It's a long tournament and I don't want to get too excited early. We're quite practical, we've spoken about winning these situations and there is a lot of self-belief in the camp. It's important to keep the calm in the dugout, lot of credit goes to the support staff for how they've been handling the players”, he concluded.

On the other hand, Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Kane Williamson congratulated the opposition for their victory. He said, “It was a fantastic game of cricket that ebbed and flowed throughout the 40 overs, it's a game of very fine margins. Could have gone either ways, but a great learning for us. Another strong performance at the top of the table though. It was a fantastic finish by Shashank Singh, he played beautifully. Credit to Gujarat as they played outstandingly well, we'll take positives out of this game. He (Malik) has been bowling beautifully, an outstanding performance by him. If you are not on the money, the ball can fly anywhere.”

“He (Rashid) has done it already in this tournament, and he has done it again. There's a lot of learning for us, but with two strong sides, such things happen. He (Jansen) will bounce back nicely, there have been a number of games like these. Sometimes you are blown away by the better side, credit to them (Gujarat) as they played outstandingly well”, Williamson concluded.