Forgetting Rinku’s stormy innings, Gujarat Titans will take on Punjab Kings

MohaliMUMBAI: Defending champions Gujarat Titans, who suffered an unexpected defeat in the last match when Rinku Singh hit five sixes in the last over, will look to forget that night as a nightmare and get back to winning ways in their IPL match against Punjab Kings on Thursday. In the last match against Kolkata Knight Riders, stand-in captain Rashid Khan took a hat-trick for Gujarat, Sai Sudarshan and Vijay Shankar played fine innings but Rinku’s storm came off the bat. Raku hit five sixes in the last over to give KKR a miraculous win. This defeat will be remembered by Gujarat for a long time but now it will have to focus on the next match. Fourth in the points table with four points from three matches, Gujarat will have to put up a show of brilliance against a confident Punjab.

Looking at the current form, apart from the eight-wicket defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab have done a tremendous job, thanks to the form of skipper Shikhar Dhawan and fast bowler Arshdeep Singh. Despite the fall of wickets from the other end, Dhawan scored 99 against Sunrisers though could not save the team from defeat. After this, he scored an unbeaten 86 against Rajasthan Royals and 40 against KKR to win the team. Gujarat captain Hardik Pandya knows very well what Dhawan can do. It will also be a contest between Dhawan and Shubman Gill as Dhawan will still aim to prove his worth and make it to the World Cup squad.

Dhawan and his young opening partner Prabhsimran Singh have got Punjab off to a flying start in the powerplay overs and it will be the same strategy against Mohammed Shami, Hardik and Rashid. Punjab has the costliest player in IPL history, Sam Curran, who will be supported by Liam Livingstone and Jitesh Sharma. Nathan Ellis will be with Arshdeep in bowling. Gujarat has match winners like Gill, Sudarshan and Shankar. Shankar scored 63 runs in 24 balls in the last match. In bowling, Shami, Josh Little, Alzarri Joseph and Rashid are there.

Teams: Gujarat Titans: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Shubman Gill, Kona Bharat, Wriddhiman Saha, Rahul Tewatia, Abhinav Manohar, Mohammed Shami, Pradeep Sangwan, R Sai Kishore, Vijay Shankar, Sai Sudarshan, Rashid Khan, Shivam Mavi, Matthew Wade , Odion Smith, Urvil Patel, Darshan Nalkande, David Miller (unavailable in first 2 matches), Yash Dayal, Jayant Yadav, Noor Ahmed and Alzarri Joseph.

Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Arshdeep Singh, Baltej Singh, Raj Bawa, Rahul Chahar, Sam Curran, Rishi Dhawan, Nathan Ellis, Harpreet Brar, Harpreet Singh, V Kaverappa, Liam Livingstone, Mohit Rathi, Prabhsimran Singh, Kagiso Rabada , Bhanuka Rajapaksa, M Shahrukh Khan, Jitesh Sharma, Shivam Singh, Matthew Short, Sikandar Raza and Atharva Tayde. Timing: The match will start at 7:30 PM.