Ahmedabad, Apr 5: Shashank Singh turned the table for Punjab Kings after fall of early wickets for his team. Shashank scored 61 runs at the crucial juncture of the game and with the help of Ashutosh, Shashank managed to snatch the win from the jaws of Gujarat Titans on their home turf.
Shashank Singh, Player of the Match, said, Still trying to sink in, I vision these things but turning it into reality feels great. I play cricketing shots, I bat at No. 7 but today I batted at No. 5. The bounce was very good, 200 scored by both teams so the wicket was fantastic. They are the legends of cricket, I don’t see the names, I react to the ball and play my shots accordingly. Couldn’t get much matches before, last to last year for SRH but the management, the coaching staff here has really backed me and I was very confident.
Shikhar Dhawan, PBKS captain, said, It was an amazing game, very very close, I’m glad the boys did the job. The plan was to give a good start but I got out unfortunately but we were around 60 runs at the end of the powerplay, we kept building partnerships and Shashank came in and played really well. The way Shashank came in and hit those sixes, it was brilliant, the way he hit the ball, it looked effortless. He started from No. 7 and is now showing his positive mindset. He is playing in the IPL after a long time and he played so well. I will also mention about Ashutosh, he came in and played a good knock under pressure.
Shubman Gill, GT captain, said, I think a couple of catches went down, never easy (to win) when you drop catches. Bowlers did a decent job, when the ball is coming on to the bat, it’s difficult to defend, I wouldn’t say we were short (on runs). The new ball was doing something. 200 was good enough. We were right in the game till about the 15th over. always under pressure with dropped catches. With the way he’s (Nalkande) bowled in the last match and with 7 runs to go, it was a no brainer for us. People who you haven’t seen will come and play knocks like these and that’s the beauty of IPL.