IPL: Tewati overpowers Smith after Gill’s 96

Shubman Gill and Rahul Tewatia starred as Gujarat Titans beat Punjab Kings by six wickets in a thrilling finale to maintain their winning start to the Indian Premier League season.

A career-best 96 off 59 balls for Gill laid the groundwork for Tewatia, who hit two sixes off the final two balls to get the Titans over the line for a third win from three matches.

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The Kings, who have now won two and lost two, had earlier reached 189-9 from their 20 overs at the Brabourne Stadium after losing the toss and being forced to bat first.

Liam Livingstone top scored before being dismissed for 64 by Rashid Khan (3-22), while Shikhar Dhawan (35), Jitesh Sharma (23) and Rahul Chahar (22) also played handy cameos.

Set a target of 190 for victory, Gill kept the runs ticking along as he registered his 12th IPL half-century, but Gujarat were still 96 runs with 60 balls remaining.

Gill fell in the 19th over to the bowling of Kagiso Rabada, at which point the Kings had 18 runs to defend from six balls.

The loss of Hardik Pandya (27) from the first delivery of the final over seemed to spell the end, but Tewatia’s late heroics ensured the Titans pulled off an unlikely triumph.

Smith unable to keep Tewatia at bay

Odean Smith was the man tasked with keeping Gujarat at bay with those final six balls, but he was unable to do so and the Kings now find themselves sixth in the table.

Rabada showed Smith how it is done earlier in the contest as he ended with figures of 2-35.

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Gil scored 84 off 46 balls against Delhi Capitals last time out and bettered that score against the Kings, hitting 11 fours and one maximum.

That allowed Tewatia (13 not out) to steal the headlines as he made up for some poor bowling in his lone over, which went for 24 runs, with a brutally effective batting display. (Sportsmax)