Gujarat Titans joined Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the top of the Indian Premier League standings as a big-hitting performance led them to a 38-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad. (As It Happened | Scorecard)
Gujarat Titans batter Sai Sudharsan passed 2,000 T20 runs in just 54 innings. Only Shaun Marsh reached that figure quicker, in 53 innings
Gujarat Titans joined Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the top of the Indian Premier League standings as a big-hitting performance led them to a 38-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad. (As It Happened | Scorecard)
The Titans were looking to get back to winning ways following Monday's astonishing defeat to Rajasthan Royals, for whom 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi hit a 35-ball century.
And unlike on Monday, they did not waste sterling knocks from Shubman Gill (76) and Jos Buttler (64), with their bowlers keeping Hyderabad well below the required run-rate in the chase.
The hosts wasted no time in building an advantage with their biggest powerplay ever, reaching 82-0 through six overs to surpass their previous best (78 runs versus Lucknow Super Giants two years ago).
The breakthrough came in the very next over as Zeeshan Ansari had Sai Sudharsan caught by Heinrich Klaasen two runs short of his half century, but if the Sunrisers expected the floodgates to open, they were mistaken.
Gill and Buttler put on a partnership of 62 off 37 balls for the second wicket, which did not fall until the former was run out by Harshal Patel in the 13th over.
The run rate slowed from there with no boundaries in three overs, until Buttler upped the ante. He reached 64 off 37 deliveries before being caught off Pat Cummins' bowling in the penultimate over, while Washington Sundar (21 off 16) tacked on more important runs.
Having finished 224-6, the Titans initially struggled for headway in the field as their visitors threatened to force a high-scoring classic, but Prasidh Krishna's excellent diving catch felled Travis Head (20) for the first wicket in the fifth over. Krishna had a simpler task soon after, when he gobbled up a dreadful shot from the struggling Ishan Kishan (13).
The wicket of the dangerous Abhishek Sharma (71 off 41) was the one Gujarat really wanted, and when he pulled Ishant Sharma's delivery straight to Mohammed Siraj to leave Hyderabad 139-3 with five overs remaining, the contest was effectively done. Siraj later added two wickets as the Sunrisers stumbled to 186-6.
Data debrief: Landmarks for Buttler and Sudharsan
While Gill anchored the Titans innings, Friday's game brought up significant landmarks for his fellow top-order batters Buttler and Sudharsan.
Buttler passed 4,000 runs for his IPL career, becoming just the fifth foreign player to reach that figure.
David Warner (6,565), AB de Villiers (5,162), Chris Gayle (4,965), Faf du Plessis (4,736) had previously done so, with Buttler now up to 4,052 runs in his 116 IPL innings.
Sudharsan, meanwhile, passed 2,000 T20 runs in just 54 innings. Only Shaun Marsh reached that figure quicker, in 53 innings.