Punjab Kings 200 for 7 (Shashank 61*, Noor 2-32) beat Gujarat Titans 199 for 4 (Gill 89, Rabada 2-44) by three wickets
Punjab Kings had only a 9% chance of victory even in the 17th over of the chase. That was also a result of Shashank Singh being one short of fifty. This was the guy his own team had tried to get rid of almost immediately after purchasing him at last year’s auction. The franchise eventually sent out a clarifying tweet, to which the player responded, hoping to shut down the stories that were circulating. Tonight, Kings and his purchase came out well against impossible odds.
Shashank hit 10 of the 29 balls he faced towards the boundary. He was walking around former IPL champions. Rashid Khan bowled over midwicket, Umesh Yadav helped over fine leg, Noor Ahmad strung on at long-on, Mohit Sharma, even as he tried to accelerate and get into the wicket, went over the keeper. They were incredible shots, because they came from a place where victory was just a fantasy.
The Kings only had two batsmen among their five substitutes in a first XI bowling. It seemed like an uneven selection. But the man they chose as Impact Sub played a pivotal role in their victory. Ashutosh Sharma, playing his first match of the season, and only the 15th T20 of his career, looked an equation reading 41 off 18 balls square in the eye and scored it with brutal precision. He hit three fours in the 18th over from Azmatullah Omarzai. Another six to start Mohit’s 19th over. In those 12 balls, the Kings scored 34 runs. In those 12 games, the Kings’ chances of winning increased from 9.23% to 94.56%.
