While Shubman Gill‘s maiden IPL century hogged the limelight, and deservedly, on Monday, Bhuvneshwar Kumar also achieved a landmark – his second five-wicket haul in the IPL.
It was because of Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s five-for, in particular his later strikes that Gujarat Titans couldn’t cross 200 runs despite Gill’s thunderous performance.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar started the game with the wicket of Wriddhiman Saha with a brilliant outswinger. After a two-over spell with the new ball, he returned to bowl 2 overs in the death overs where he took 4 wickets, all by foxing batters with his change of pace. Hardik Pandya’s wild swing of the bat meant an easy sliced catch at point in the 16th over.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar delivered a terrific last over, conceding only 2 runs in it and 4 wickets fell in that one over. Shubman Gill hit a full and wide ball to cover point fielder before Rashid Khan outside edged to the wicketkeeper.
On the next ball, Noor Ahmad missed the ball and Shanaka tried to take a bye. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, however, collected the ball from the keeper and hit bulls eye to run out Noor Ahmad. On the penultimate delivery of GT’s innings, Mohammed Shami was caught by the long-on fielder to complete Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s five-wicket haul.
Watch: Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s sensational last over vs GT
A team hattrick & a 🖐️-wicket haul – this final over was a Bhuvi masterclass!
#GTvSRH #IPLonJioCinema #TATAIPL #IPL2023 #EveryGameMatters @SunRisers pic.twitter.com/fNkl8KZ3Ea
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) May 15, 2023
Speaking in the mid-innings break, Bhuvneshwar Kumar said: “When we were 16 down, we thought if we keep them close to 200 it would be good, but restricting them to 189 was great. Till 19th over, the wicket looked good to me (laughs). When it came to the second over, it did not swing much. When I came back for the last 2 overs, I tried to use the dimensions. We were thinking to stop them close to 200. Batting unit will be confident to chase this down, especially after chasing more than 200 against Rajasthan. With those big hitters, you have to use those bigger boundaries. You have to back yourself. The moment Shubman got out, we knew they were 10 runs short.”
Earlier, SRH skipper Aiden Markram had won the toss and elected to field first.
Teams:
Gujarat Titans (Playing XI): Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Sai Sudharsan, Hardik Pandya(c), David Miller, Dasun Shanaka, Rahul Tewatia, Mohit Sharma, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram(c), Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Sanvir Singh, Mayank Markande, Marco Jansen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, T Natarajan
Hardik Pandya: Yeah, it is a special initiative to support cancer patients. This is just our way of showing our support. We have played really good cricket. The standing in the table doesn’t matter that much, you have to play good cricket. When we started, we knew it would be a tricky year for us. The players have put up their hands in tough situations and put their hands up. It is a fresh wicket, we would have liked to field as well. We have a couple of forced changes. Shankar got hit by a ball in the net yesterday, Sai comes in. Shanaka makes his debut and also Yash Dayal is back.
Aiden Markram: We are gonna bowl first, looks like there is moisture on this wicket, something for the pacers to utilise. If things are meant to work out, it will work out. Guys have the permission to express themselves. We look forward to doing that. Trying to play really good cricket, up to our potential and abilities. We have been playing really good cricket but not getting over the line. Would like to pack a punch tonight. Marco Jansen comes in for Glenn Phillips.
