By Brian Thomas
The key to success by playoff hopefuls in this years IPL, namely Gujrat Titans, is their reliable top order batting of Sai Sudharshan, Shubman Gill, and Jos Buttler. The trio ensures that the rest of the batters pad up and wait in the hope to get an opportunity to bat because the top three do the hard work to stich a big score so that their finishers have less pressure batting at the death overs.
Sai Sudharshan and Shubman Gill made batting look easy at Ahmadabad when the pair stiched a partnership of 87 runs for the first wicket before Ansari had Sai Sudharshan caught by Henrich Klassan when fell 2 runs short of a well deserved half century in the 7th over.
Jos Buttler batted at number 3 and then joined Shubman Gill . The partnership they built was 63 runs for the second wicket, whilst Gujrat Titans opened throttle to full power with a steady climb before Shubman Gill was run out for 76 , in the 13th over with the score now on 149 runs for 2 wickets.
Shubman made 76 in 38 deliveries with 10 boundaries and 2 maximums and was unfortunate not to score a well-deserved century.
Jos Buttler, still at the wickets, is always dangerous for any opposition given the match situation and the overs remaining in the bank.
Buttler and Washington Sunder took the total past the dreaded 200 mark when Buttler was dismissed by Pat Cummins for 64 in the 19th over.
The Englishman thumped 3 boundaries and 4 maximums in his 37 ball innings whilst Washington Sunder contributed with 21 runs to help Gujrat Titans to 224 for 6 wickets. At Ahmadabad, this is definitely a par score but not herculean for the team chasing.
Cummins 1 for 40 expensive by his standard, Ansadi 1 for 42 , however, Jadev Undakai’s back-end strike helped him to grab 3 wickets for 35 runs.
Sunrisers Hydrabad never looked threatening after the early dismissal of Travis Head for 20 inside the Power play overs. Only Abisheik Sharma had something to write home about with a well-made 76. His departure in the 15th over with the score on 139 opened the flood gates as Henrich Klassan, Aniket Verma, and Kamindu Mendis departed in quick sucession to accurate bowling headed by seamers Prasad Krishna and Mohamed Siraj.
The fact remains that Sunrisers Hydrabad lost 4 wickets for 6 runs in the middle muddle. Thanks to Nitesh Reddy, who remained unbeaten on 21 and skipper Pat Cummins, who had to do a batters job in contributing 19, helped the losers to 184 for 6 wickets conceeding the game by 38 runs.
Gujrat Titans are placed 2 in the points table, whilst Sunrisers Hydrabad chances of qualifying for the playoffs are similar to an anticipated lottery win.
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