Spot-on RCB bowlers limit Gujarat Titans to below-par 147
Bengaluru, May 4: Gujarat Titans, preyed on by a sporting pitch, accurate Royal Challengers Bengaluru bowlers and their own inhibitions, laboured to a modest 147 all out in the Indian Premier League match here on Saturday.
There were a couple of good partnerships – 61 between David Miller and Shahrukh Khan and 44 by Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan – but the Titans lacked that one big innings or a stand that could have given them a firmer grip on the match.
In fact, they seemed distinctly incapable of accelerating even in the Power Play as their top-order batters struggled against RCB pacers, Mohammed Siraj (2/29) and Yash Dayal (2/21) who stuck to a wonderful length on a pitch that offered good carry and bounce.
That GT managed to strike just two fours in the Power Play segment offered ample evidence to their struggle and RCB bowlers’ accuracy.
The Gujarat side’s Power Play score of 23 for three was the lowest in the segment this season, and it was mainly due to Siraj’s domination upfront.
Coming off a short-break, the pacer looked a far improved version of himself after the struggles of initial stages where he sprayed the ball all around.
He consumed Wriddhiman Saha with a fine outswinger which the GT opener wafted to Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps.
Shubman Gill followed soon as his attempted swat to the on-side of Siraj took a leading edge and ended in the hands of Vysakh Vijayakumar at deep point.
Cameron Green fetched the third wicket for RCB in the Power Play when he jettisoned in-form B Sai Sudharsan, whose feeble pull close to the body was snaffled by Virat Kohli at mid-off.
Once their top two run-getters of the season walked back to the dugout, the rest of the batters needed to step up big time for GT to reach a competitive total.
Miller (30, 20b) and Shahrukh (37, 24b) tried their best to drag GT out of the woods with a well-paced 61-run alliance off 37 balls for the fourth wicket.
Miller was even fortunate to get dropped on 23 off Green by Karn Sharma near square leg, did play some archetypal power shots.
He punished leg-spinner Karn for a couple of sixes – a pull and a loft over extra cover – but fell to the same bowler when a miscued heave was grabbed by Glenn Maxwell at deep.
But a bigger misfortune was in store for the visitors as Shahrukh, who backed up a tad too far to Rahul Tewatia’s soft drop, could not beat a throw from Kohli to the non-striker’s end.
For the sixth-wicket, Tewatia (35, 21b) and Rashid (18, 14b) added 44 off 29 balls, but the latter’s desire to be innovative against Yash Dayal saw the ball crashing onto the stumps.
Tewatia, who punished Karn for 18 runs (4, 6, 4, 4) in the 16th over, too perished soon as GT limped to a below-par total.
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Kerala to receive heavy rains; IMD issues red alert in some districts for May 19, 20
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday predicted extremely heavy rainfall in Kerala in the coming days and issued a red alert in some districts of the state for May 19 and 20.
The IMD issued the red alert in Pathanamthitta, Kottayam and Idukki districts of the state for May 19 and 20.
Additionally, an orange alert was issued for Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, and Ernakulam for those two days.
The weather department further issued an orange alert in nine districts for May 21 and said some of them were likely to receive rains similar to that of a red alert.
It also predicted that thunderstorms with lightning, accompanied by gusty winds, were very likely to occur at one or two places in Kerala between May 19 and 22.
For Saturday, it issued an orange alert in Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Malappuram districts.
A red alert indicates heavy to extremely heavy rain of over 20 cm in 24 hours, while an orange alert means very heavy rain (6 cm to 20 cm). A yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 6 to 11 cm.
The IMD on Thursday had predicted very heavy rainfall in the state between May 18 and 20 due to the likely prevalence of strong westerly and south westerly winds in the region.
