Rabada stymies Gujarat with sixth four-for

Despite going for 13 runs in his opening over, the second of the Gujarat Titans’ innings, and also after being hit for a six in his second over, South African paceman Kagiso Rabada came back brilliantly to finish with four for 33. The South African pacer was chiefly responsible for restricting Gujarat Titans to under 150 – 143 for eight to be precise. The man of the match award was a just reward for his bowling efforts.

Rabada claimed his sixth four-wicket haul in IPL to join Delhi Capitals’ Kuldeep Yadav and Sunrisers Hyderabad’s T Natarajan at 17 wickets, the second highest behind Rajasthan Royals’ Yuzvendra Chahal (19).

On a pitch that had even spread of grass cover and on which Punjab Kings wanted to bowl first, the toss was removed out of the equation. That Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya calling correctly and opting to bat did not matter much as PBKS got what they wanted – bowl first.

Rabada has been a world premier bowler for South Africa and for his IPL franchise that he has played, previously for Delhi Capitals before being acquired by PBKS this year for ₹9.25 crore. He was coming into this match against Titans at DY Patil Stadium on Tuesday on the back of his impressive four for 38 against Lucknow Super Giants, though that effort went in vain in Pune.

However, on Tuesday, he made his performances count, helping his team to win eventually by eight wickets as the batsmen did not have to chase a tall target. Despite Shubman Gill flicking Rabada for four to backward square leg in his first over and an inside edge raced past the wicketkeeper for another four, followed by Wriddhiman Saha’s beautiful placement on the on-side for another boundary, Rabada was impacted but not hurt.

Another boundary, this time a six over wide long-on by Saha in his second over, saw Rabada concede 21 runs in his first two overs before he struck.

Once he struck, taking the wicket of Saha in the second over, caught by Mayank Agarwal running backwards from mid-off to a skier, there was no looking back for Rabada.

Rabada took a break before coming in the 17^th over for his second spell. In the meantime, his team-mates Rishi Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, Sandeep Sharma and Arshdeep Singh kept it tight, not allowing the Gujarat Titans to run away with a score that would have been beyond PBKS’ reach. Wickets too fell at regular intervals.

But, the 26-year-old struck twice in his third over, dismissing the big-hitters Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan off successive deliveries. Rabada mixed his deliveries, bowling the traditional seamers as well as bowling with the cross seam. Known to hit big and winning matches, especially while chasing, single-handedly, Tewatia and Khan’s dismissals off successive deliveries saw that Titans did not cross 150.

Tewatia’s intended pull only found the outside edge to be caught at short third man while a beautiful away movement off the next took Khan’s outside edge to Jitesh Sharma’s gloves. With only left-handed Sai Sudharsan finding the runs for Titans, Rabada also dismissed another big-hitter Lockie Ferguson, whose pull shot was caught at deep mid-wicket.

Rabada’s two for 12 in his last two overs stopped Titans from running away with a big total. On a pitch that was expected to be full of runs, Rabada came back well after being punished early.