Page 40 - The Indian EYE 041423

SPORTS APRIL 14, 2023 | The Indian Eye 40

IPL 2023

Young blood like Sai Sudarshan and Sanju

Samson shine as veterans create records

OUR BUREAU
New Delhi/Chennai/Ahmedabad
ai Sudharsan, the young batter
from Tamil Nadu, rose to the
Soccasion as defending cham-
pions Gujarat Titans recorded their
second straight win of the IPL 2023
at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New
Delhi on Tuesday night.
Chasing a tricky 163 for victory
against Delhi Capitals, the Hardik
Pandya-led side won the contest with
six wickets in hand and 11 balls to
spare, thanks largely to Sudharsan’s
unbeaten 62 that came off 48 balls
and included four boundaries and a
couple of sixes.

The 21-year-old put on 56 runs

in the company of David Miller,
who stayed unbeaten on a 16-
ball 31. Earlier, spinner Rashid
Khan was at his usual best for

the Titans, taking 3/31 in 4
overs.
Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson plays a shot during their match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 (ANI)
Fast bowler Mohammed Sha-
mi too accounted for three wickets impressed with Sudharsan. “Sudar- should start with Nortje. There was upcoming matches also.
but was pretty expensive, conceding shan is 21 years old. He’s been play- a mistake in the captaincy, as Nortje With the help of Dhawan
41 runs. Anil Kumble hailed Sud- ing First Class cricket for the last two proved his impact by taking wickets and opener Prabhsimran Singh’s
harsan’s knock on JioCinema, say- years,” said Patel. “If you watch him in his first over. That shows that you half-centuries, Punjab Kings put up a
ing: “He looked like a very organized bat, you’ll think he is a very techni- were thinking you have to extend the challenging target of 197 which Ra-
player. Good against fast bowling, cally correct player. He doesn’t try game when you should’ve stopped jasthan Royals (RR) failed to chase
good against swing. He came into to smack the ball. There are benefits the game right there. The best bowl- down and suffered a 5 runs defeat in
the first game as an impact player to him having played last season as er should get his duties at the right the thrilling last over at Assam Crick-
and certainly created an impact, he well and when you play for a win- time. So, they made a mistake with et Association Stadium in Guwahati.
played a cameo.” ning team, it changes your mentality. the selection by taking too many pac- Punjab skipper scored 86 off 56 balls.
“Today, it was 3-down and all You know that you have players that ers and then incorrectly rotating their “We want to keep the momentum
the big stars gone. Shubman Gill was can create some room and manage a best available pacers,” said Singh. going as we got a good batting line-
gone, Saha got out, and his captain game, which gives you a little time. up. We respect the opponents’ bowl-
Hardik Pandya got out. Both the He showed great maturity with the “Want to keep the ers but want to keep the intent and
Tamil Nadu guys (Vijay Shankar way he was batting tonight, and this aggression going,” Dhawan said in a
and Sudharsan) got together and will benefit him in the future.” intent, aggression going”: post-match presentation.
put together a partnership. Gujarat Meanwhile, pointed out some Shikhar Dhawan Despite RR impact player Dha-
has always created that aura about flaws in the way Delhi chose their ruv Jurel’s unbeaten knock of 32 in
themselves ‘we’ll restrict you to 160 bowling attack for the game. “I think fter winning the consecutive just 15 balls, Rajasthan did not ac-
and get that’. With an impact player, the bowling selection was incorrect 2nd match of the Indian Pre- complish the score as they kept los-
it makes it even easier for them. Sai for this. They played with few pac- Amier League (IPL) 2023, Pun- ing wickets at regular intervals. How-
Sudharsan constructed the innings ers, Sarfaraz was their fourth pac- jab Kings (PBKS) skipper Shikhar ever, the match went to the last over
perfectly,” added Kumble. er against a team that has a battery Dhawan said that he wants to keep and it was a close win for Punjab.
Parthiv Patel was also extremely of pacers. At the start, I felt they the intent and aggression going in the Continued on next page... >>

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