Captain Shreyas stars as PBKS beat GT by 11 runs

Ahmedabad, March 25: Shreyas Iyer began his stint at Punjab Kings captain with a blistering 42-ball 97 not out as his team humbled Gujarat Titans by 11 runs in their Indian Premier League match here on Tuesday.
Shashank Singh bludgeoned 44 off 16 balls after Iyer’s brilliant display with the bat as PBKS posted an imposing 243 for five. In reply, GT were stopped at 232 for five with Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler making a 41-ball 74 and 33-ball 54 respectively.
Iyer struck as many as nine sixes and five fours but he could not get to his maiden IPL hundred, as Shashank took 23 runs off the final over to end the PBKS innings on a high note.
Shashank hit six fours and two sixes during his brilliant cameo.The GT bowling at the death left a lot to be desired as PBKS amassed 135 runs in the last eight overs. GT’s fielding was also not up to the mark on the night.
During his sparkling knock, Iyer tackled the short ball, once considered his weakness, with elan.
In pursuit of 244, GT too got off to a flyer with Shubman Gill and Sudharsan putting on 61 runs in just under six overs before the home team captain got a leading edge off a Glenn Maxwell delivery to fall for a 14-ball 33.
Jos Buttler joined Sudharsan in the middle and the two scored runs at a fast clip to keep GT in the hunt. However, having added 84 runs for the second wicket with Buttler, Sudharsan looked to whip an ordinary Arshdeep Singh off his pads and while he timed it superbly, the opener did not get the desired elevation and was caught in the deep.
With dew coming into the picture and Buttler still at the crease, GT knew they remained very much in the game despite losing Sudharsan, and Sherfane Rutherford’s two sixes and a four off Marcus Stoinis acted as stimulus for the home team.
But with his smart medium pace bowing, impact sub Vijaykumar Vyshak ensured PBKS had their nose ahead by conceding just five runs in the 15th over.
Marco Jansen was brought back into the attack with GT requiring 70 runs in the last 30 balls, and the tall South African left-arm pacer gave away only eight runs to compound the batting team’s problems.Vyshak bowled another tight over despite conceding three wides, leaving GT to get 57 runs in 18 balls, which they could not achieve.Earlier, caring very little for reputation, Priyansh Arya (47 off 23) went after the GT bowling from the get go.Arya, who was bought by PBKS for Rs 3.8 crore at the last IPL auction, clobbered Mohammed Siraj over deep square leg for his first six and followed it up with a four.
Kagiso Rabada made the first breakthrough when he had Prabhsimran Singh caught in the deep, paving the way for new PBKS captain Iyer’s entry into the middle and he started with a lovely drive on the up for a boundary before flicking the seasoned South African pacer for a six over deep square leg. (PTI)