Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill admitted that the conditions at the Narendra Modi Stadium were tough for the batsmen, despite players like Sai Sudarshan and Washington Sundar leading the chase.
Shubman Gill’s team has leveled its points tally with three other franchises including Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals, who have 12 points after playing 10 matches this season.
However, they could not progress into the top four due to their poor net run rate; They are back in the competition, and their next matches will be important for them as well as their opponents.
Early dismissals of Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler could not help PBKS restrict GT
Chasing a small score of 164 runs after the start of the innings. Shubman Gill was out in the second over on the ball of Arshdeep Singh. He remains the leading scorer in 2026 with 378 runs at a strike rate of 154.92 after playing nine matches in the season.
After losing big wickets in quick succession, Kings were trying to claw their way back into the game. After this, he dismissed Jos Buttler with the help of Vijaykumar Vaishya after the power play. Buttler’s dismissal definitely gave PBKS a chance in the match.
However, Sai Sudarshan remained a major hurdle in their path to victory and their first successful win with the ball came in the second innings. The batsman scored his third half-century for the Titans this season, once again excelling when it mattered most.
Washington Sundar helps GT finish strongly in a thrilling encounter
Sai Sudarshan’s form has been undeniably good in this year’s IPL as well; However, his form has come quite late in the edition. Out of the last four matches, he has scored fifty-plus on three occasions, including a mammoth century against the Royal Challengers at Chinnaswamy.
Washington Sundar was brought in at number five after Nishant Sindhu, who was playing his first game in this edition of the IPL, was moved to number five. 4. Sundar remained patient, batted well and scored an unbeaten 40 off just 23 balls to lead the Titans to victory.
In the final over from Marcus Stoinis, which did not start well for the batsman, Arshad Khan struggled to score just one run on the third and fourth balls. The match looked to be in trouble, with three runs needed off two balls and eventually Sundar cleared the fence with a big swing across the square leg boundary.
This is not the kind of wicket where we can chase the target in 15-16 overs – Shubhman Gill
Shubman Gill agreed that the conditions were indeed challenging in terms of the game; However, the way the set GT batsmen carried the innings as far as possible was impressive from the point of view of a winning team.
After the win, the GT captain said, “I think when chasing a target like this, we wouldn’t want to take it as deep as it went, but two important points. This is not the kind of wicket where we will chase in 15-16 overs. So we thought maybe an over earlier or a few overs earlier. That was the thing.”
“If someone is set, they should go deep because it is not easy to hit with the first ball. When we play on other wickets the length balls were not coming. It was important for the batsman who is set… Luckily we had Vashi, and he finished the game for us,” Shubman Gill praised Washington Sundar for hitting that final six that gave the Titans the win.
Also read: “Congratulations on the efforts”: Shreyas Iyer shows confidence in PBKS after consecutive defeats in IPL 2026
