Miller, Tewatia shine in Gujarat Titans’ win over Bangalore Royals

Miller and Tewatia showcased a fantastic effort to chase down the total with three balls to spare. Chasing the 171-run target, Gujarat had a decent start as they posted 46 for no loss in the powerplay. Wanindu Hasaranga struck in the 8th over to dismiss Wriddhiman Saha (29 off 22). RCB showed scintillating bowling as GT kept losing wickets at regular intervals. In the 9th over, Shahbaz Ahmed almost got Shubman Gill as substitute wicket-keeper Anuj Rawat appealed to be caught behind and umpire raised his finger. Gill reviewed immediately and the ultra-edge showed a flat line and luckily it was declared a no-ball as the keeper had his gloves in front of the stumps. On the free hit, Gill went for a maximum. After being saved with a no-ball, Gill departed for the score of 31 in the same over. Shahbaz trapped him leg-before, which he reviewed but, in the ball, tracking it clearly showed that ball was hitting the stumps and thus Gill had to walk back to dug-out. In the 11th over, Shahbaz gave a major breakthrough to RCB as he got the in-form batter skipper Hardik Pandya cheaply for 3. He opted a straight drive over the bowler’s head but the ball hit the inside of the bat and went straight to Mahipal Lomror at the long-on region. Hasaranga got his second as he removed Sai Sudharsan (20) in the 13th over and Titans were reduced to 100/4. Then, Miller and Tewatia started a rebuilding act and the duo went onto stitch a stunning unbeaten 79-run partnership off 40 balls to take Gujarat over the line. For RCB, Shahbaz and Hasaranga bagged two wickets each. Earlier batting first, RCB suffered an early blow as they lost skipper Faf du Plessis for duck. In the second over, du Plessis went for the drive off the bowling of Pradeep Sangwan but found an outside edge and was caught by wicket-keeper Saha. After a steady start, RCB posted 43/1 in the powerplay with the help of seven boundaries. Kohli, who returned to his form, brought up his 43rd IPL fifty off 45 balls in the 13th over. In the next over, Patidar scored his maiden fifty of the tournament. Kohli and Patidar established a 99-run partnership off 74 balls before Sangwan sent the latter back and Glenn Maxwell joined Kohli. Kohli’s innings ended in the 17th over as he got clean bowled off the bowling of Mohammad Shami. In the very next over, Rashid Khan sent Dinesh Karthik packing for a mere score of 2. In the penultimate over, Lockie Ferguson cleaned up Maxwell (33 off 18), who sliced the full toss and Rashid took a brilliant catch. Alzarri Joseph almost got Lomror in the last over but the ball was declared dead by the umpire as it hit the cable. However, on the final ball, Joseph got Lomror, who tried to go big but didn’t get much leverage and the ball went to Miller. For GT, Sangwan scalped two while Shami, Joseph, Rashid and Ferguson got one each. (UNI)