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PBKS brought their never-say-die attitude to Ahmedabad but this Sunday evening proceeded to consume a second high-flying team of the season after SRH's humbling earlier in the day. PBKS suffered a rare batting blip as GT kept them to 163/9 - modest both by their and the season's standards. Yet GT had to huff and puff all the way till the final over to get over the line, via a Washington Sundar six.
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@B2$ Punjab Kings 163/9 in 20 overs [Suryansh Shedge 57 (29), Marcus Stoinis 40 (31); Jason Holder 4-24, Kagiso Rabada 2-22, Mohammed Siraj 2-28] lost to Gujarat Titans 167/6 in 19.5 overs [Sai Sudharsan 57 (41), Washington Sundar 40* (23); Arshdeep Singh 2-24, Vijaykumar Vyshak 2-31] by 6 wickets
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Mayhem, and not the kind PBKS usually inflict on others. This was brought upon them. Priyansh Arya survived a streaky top-edge on the first ball, but ended up slashing the next short ball outside the off-stump towards deep backward point where debutant Nishant Sindhu took a sharp catch. Cooper Connolly then had to walk off first ball - with a review in tow, as Mohammed Siraj got a length delivery to jag back and cut the batter in half and take a faint edge to Jos Buttler behind. Kagiso Rabada meanwhile, was tormenting the bowler-slayer Prabhsimran Singh, and eventually had him caught in the sixth over for an uncharacteristic 15 off 14. Shreyas Iyer dragged PBKS to 35/3 in the Powerplay.
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Jason Holder. In the mood to dismiss and dance. He got Nehal Wadhera to poke at a length ball to Buttler behind and then Shreyas played one onto the stumps in the West Indian's next over. PBKS, for the first time in their two years of batting brilliance, lost five wickets before they even scored 50 runs. Their 51/5 in 10 overs was the fourth-lowest total at the halfway stage in IPL 2026.
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An impressive Suryansh Shedge. On the second ball of the 13th over, he hit the first six of the innings - off Arshad Khan. Then in the 13th, he went after left-arm spinner Manav Suthar. Three sixes and two fours in a 27-run over helped him drag the team past the 100-run mark in 14 overs. An over later, he brought up his maiden IPL fifty, off only 24 deliveries.
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Well, almost. Rabada came back and dismissed Shedge and Holder bowled a double-wicket over to take out Marcus Stoinis and Xavier Bartlett off successive deliveries. For four overs at the death, GT gave away just 8, 8, 7 and 8 runs. But the final over brought a showdown between Marco Jansen and Rashid Khan, where the former tonked a straight six and then had an inside edge head to the fine leg fence for a four before being dismissed.
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Arshdeep Singh removed Shubman Gill early but Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler settled in to play their shots and got to 58/1 at the end of the Powerplay, putting their side well ahead of the asking rate. But there was a clear post-Powerplay lull. Vijaykumar Vyshak dismissed Buttler in the ninth over, bringing Sindhu in at No.4. When he tonked Vyshak for a six over backward square leg, it was the first boundary for GT in 28 balls. In an intriguing passage of play in the middle-overs, Shreyas Iyer brought back Marcus Stoinis before turning to Yuzvendra Chahal. The Aussie took out Sindhu in the 12th over to keep Punjab interested.
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PBKS swore by match-ups and seemed to avoid unleashing him against left-handers. GT unfurled one left-hander after another as Sindhu's exit brought Washington Sundar to the middle. The equation - 61 off 42 - was still siding with the batting team but Punjab tried to push back. Sudharsan picked a couple of fours off Chahal but was snuffed out by Vyshak in the 15th over.
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GT went in needing 40 off 30 balls with Rahul Tewatia and Sundar in the middle. Bartlett bowled a stunning four-run over to the two batters, leaving them to chase 36 off four overs. Sundar eased the suddenly pent up pressure with two boundaries off Jansen - one an outside edge to third man boundary and another a trademark shift and scoop over short fine. Tewatia tried to close out the over with one more big hit but went straight to the deep square leg fielder, bringing Holder in.
Bartlett conceded a four on the first ball of the 18th over to Sundar but only three came off the next five deliveries. When Arshdeep came back, PBKS had 17 to defend from 12 balls. He nailed his full, wide lengths too and carried the fight on, getting Holder to err. The big West Indian swung hard towards the mid-wicket fence but Connolly came in the way as he covered good ground and pouched an excellent diving catch at the fence.
With 11 to defend, Marcus Stoinis started the final over poorly. The equation was down to just 4 off 4 and still the tension simmered inside the stadium. That then became 3 off 2. Stoinis then missed his yorker and Sundar scooped a full-toss over deep backward square for the only six of the death overs.
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PBKS travel south to Hyderabad where they face their batting ideology twin SRH on May 6. GT head to Jaipur where they go up against RR on May 9.
