Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
Sixteen matches done and dusted and what a ride the teams have gone through so far in the tournament is in-explainable. The defending champions and four-time title holders have yet not opened their account in the winnings chart. Similar is the case with five-time champions Mumbai Indians. However, such has not been the case with the debutant teams this season.
Back-to-back wins for Lucknow and three wins on trot for Gujarat. Wow, what a season these teams are having. But what lies ahead is still unknown.
It was in match number 16 that the Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans registered their third win of the season and remain the only team to be unbeaten in the tournament till this stage. Those winning sixes from Rahul Tewatia was what gave Gujarat the game at the end, accompanied by brilliant batting by opener Shubman Gill who scored 96 off 59 balls.
Changes in the Points Table
After the 16th game of the tournament, Gujarat sit at the second place having won all their three games. They have six points to their name with a net run-rate of 0.349. However, Punjab Kings have won two matches and lost two out of their four games. They occupy the sixth place in the ten-team table with a net run-rate of 0.512.
Have a look at the updated points table after Match 16
I am going to get better with every game: Hardik Pandya
After taking the game out of Punjab’s mouth, Gujarat Titans’ captain Hardik Pandya had all praise for all-rounder Rahul Tewatia. He also acknowledged Shubman Gill’s game who played a brilliant knock of 96.
“Hats off to Tewatia. It is difficult to go out there and hit, and to do it under this pressure is great. ….Gill is telling everybody that he is there. A lot of credit goes to Said as well for that partnership. It kept us in the game,” quoted Hardik in the post-match presentation.
Talking of his return to bowl full four overs, Hardik said, “I am going to get better with every game. I am getting tired as I’m not used to bowling four overs. But I’m getting better.” Notably, in his spell of four overs, Hardik conceded 36 runs with a wicket to his name.
On the other hand, Punjab Kings skipper realized that the side was 5-7 runs short. He hailed Rabada and Arshdeep’s execution on the field which eventually pulled the team back in the contest.
“It was a tough game but we really fought hard. We were 5-7 runs short but we pulled it back after the start they had. There were a lot of positives for us:, said Mayank. “The talk in the group is we always back the guys. If he has a bad day, he has bad day, no worries, we back him 100%,” added Agarwal.