Gujarat Titans 199 for 5 (Saha 68, Tewatia 40*, Rashid 31*, Malik 5-25) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 195 for 6 (Abhishek 65, Markram 56, Shashank 25*, Shami 3-39) by five wickets
The most unreal battle
Abhishek has come up against Rashid only once before. But that’s in an actual IPL match. Who knows how many times these two had sparred in the Sunrisers nets. And if the events on Wednesday were any indication, they missed out on a massive money-making opportunity. Charging admission to the nets while those two did battle would have raked in puh-lenty because the 21-year old kid kept pwning the greatest legspinner in white-ball cricket.
Titans had done their homework. They knew Aiden Markram was going a mere 115 runs per 100 balls of spin this season. They brought Rashid on to counter his threat, but Abhishek’s presence at the other end completely killed the plan. There was even a moment that signalled loud and clear that the youngster was picking the ball out of the hand. In the 15th over, when a ball was dropped short on leg stump, Abhishek didn’t shape to pull but instead made room for himself and straight-bat lofted it over cover because he had seen it was the googly.
That one moment exemplified this whole head-to-head. Rashid Khan was no mystery to Abhishek Sharma.
The surprise cameo
Except this is the IPL era. There are 10 franchises with tons of scouts whose networks reach the very corners of the country. If you’ve got talent, you’re going to be found.
Shashank strikes at 142 in T20 cricket. He goes nearly run-a-ball even in one-day cricket. He’s a born and raised big hitter. Just needed the stage to show it off. Well, here it was.
Lockie Ferguson ran in to bowl the 20th over and Shashank thumped him for 6, 6 and 6. The first was pure reaction. The ball was full. He drove on the up. Six down the ground. Now the mind games began.
A fast bowler getting hit out of the park usually comes back with a bouncer and Shashank was waiting for it. Boom. Six over midwicket. A fast bowler leaking runs in the last over goes back to basics. And Shashank, yet again, was waiting for it. Boom. Scooped for six over fine leg.
Aiden Markram was supposed to be their pace-hitter, and he was, scoring 56 off 40 balls in a third-wicket partnership that contributed 96 off 61. But the innings that took Sunrisers’ total all the way up to the stratosphere came from a total unknown.
More to follow
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo