Kagiso Rabada and Shikhar Dhawan inspired Punjab Kings to an eight-wicket victory over Indian Premier League leaders Gujarat Titans on Tuesday.
The Titans had won five matches in a row – no side has managed a longer run this season – but could only crawl to 143-8 from their 20 overs after electing to bat first.
Rabada returned to his best form as he took the wickets of Wriddhiman Saha (21), Rahul Tewatia (11), Rashid Khan (0) and Lockie Ferguson (5) to finish with figures of 4-33.
Only two Titans players scored more than 11 runs, with Sai Sudharsan at least giving his side hope with an unbeaten 65.
The Kings’ reply got off to a shaky start when losing opener Jonny Bairstow (1) early on, but Dhawan and Bhanuka Rajapaksa mounted an 87-run stand for the second wicket.
Dhawan powered to a half-century and finished with an unbeaten 62 off 53 balls, which included eight fours, while Rajapaksa went for 40 from the bowling of Ferguson.
It was left to Liam Livingstone to get the Kings over the line and ensure that his side remain in contention for the playoffs with an impressive 30 off just 10 deliveries.
Shikhar shines again
Dhawan has now topped the scorecard 51 times in his IPL career, putting him level with Rohit Sharma and behind only David Warner (57).
He now has three half-centuries this season and his 369 runs from 10 innings is the third most of any player, behind only KL Rahul (451) and Jos Buttler (588).
Livingstone lives up to his billing
After Dhawan and Rajapaksa had laid the foundations, big-hitting Livingstone struck three sixes in quick succession to light up DY Patil Stadium.
That included a monstrous 117-metre drive off Mohammed Shami’s delivery, making it the biggest six of this season’s IPL thus far. (Sportsmax)
