SRH vs GT: It Seemed The Excellent Bowling Suddenly Did Not Have The Sharpness - Aakash Chopra On Gujarat Titans

Cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra said Gujarat Titans lacked sharpness in their bowling against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday. SRH won by eight wickets to end Hardik Pandya and his men’s winning streak in IPL 2022.

Riding on skipper Hardik Pandya’s gritty fifty and a cameo by Abhinav Manohar (35 in 21 balls), Gujarat Titans posted 162/7, which wasn’t enough as SRH chased the target with five balls to spare to earn their second win in a row after suffering losses in first two games.

IPL 2022: SRH beat Gujarat Titans by eight wickets

SRH captain Kane Williamson survived an LBW call off Mohammed Shami’s bowling in the first over as the on-field umpire turned down the appeal and Hardik wasn’t convinced to challenge the decision. However, the ball-tracking technology displayed that the ball was hitting the stumps.

Williamson added salt to the wounds by clobbering a six and a boundary to Shami in the fifth over. The New Zealand international star batter combined with youngster Abhishek Sharma (42) to put up a 64-run stand. Abhishek hit four boundaries to Lockie Ferguson in the final over of the powerplay.

The southpaw charged down against Rashid Khan, hitting a couple of more boundaries before holing out one at the mid-wicket region. Williamson smashed three sixes- two successive against Hardik Pandya and one to Ferguson- to bring up his splendorous fifty.

Gujarat Titans took out the sword but it seemed it was rusted: Aakash Chopra

Williamson departed to Hardik Pandya’s slower ball at the start of the 17th over. Nicholas Pooran’s 18-ball 34 (two fours and two sixes) took SRH past the finishing line. Chopra was surprised with the Gujarat Titans’ bowlers failed to pick wickets in the match.

“This match went in a different fashion. I am saying that because you have a hypothesis that this team’s bowling is good but nothing like that happened. Rashid Khan got just one wicket against his old team and Hardik Pandya got one wicket,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel. 

“Lockie Ferguson – nearly 50 runs (46) in his four overs. I didn’t expect that. Mohammed Shami – bowls really well but remained wicketless in this match. You expect a lot more from Rashid Khan but here that too did not happen.

“Till now, Gujarat Titans were taking two to four wickets in the powerplay and this time they could take two wickets in the entire match. It seemed the excellent bowling suddenly did not have the sharpness. They took out the sword but it seemed it was rusted,” he added. 

Gujarat Titans will play against Rajasthan Royals on April 14 at the same venue.

Also Read: SRH vs GT: Former England Skipper Wants Umran Malik To Play County Cricket