Punjab Kings arrived in Ahmedabad with a no-apologies mindset, but the second half of this IPL Sunday belonged to Gujarat Titans. After SRH had earlier thrashed another side in the day’s programme, PBKS looked ready to chase the momentum—but instead they suffered a rare batting wobble. Titans restricted them to 163 for 9, a total that looked gettable on paper, yet GT still had to grind through the chase right to the last over, finishing on 167 for 6 in 19.5 overs thanks to a decisive Washington Sundar six.
In the match that swung through multiple phases, Punjab Kings managed 163/9 in their 20 overs with Suryansh Shedge top-scoring on 57 off 29 and Marcus Stoinis contributing 40 off 31. Gujarat’s bowling was led by Jason Holder (4 for 24), while Kagiso Rabada took 2 for 22 and Mohammed Siraj chipped in with 2 for 28. The chase ended with Sai Sudharsan striking 57 off 41 and Sundar finishing unbeaten on 40 off 23, as Arshdeep Singh (2 for 24) and Vijaykumar Vyshak (2 for 31) offered resistance. Gujarat ultimately won by 6 wickets.
What made PBKS’s start so striking was how quickly the chaos arrived. Priyansh Arya survived an early scare, edging a first-ball delivery awkwardly, but the second short ball offered him a chance to commit—he cut it outside the off-stump and found deep backward point. Debutant Nishant Sindhu was sharp enough to take a fast, clean catch. Moments later, Cooper Connolly had to depart first ball as well. Mohammed Siraj delivered a length ball that jagged in, cutting the batter in half and producing a faint edge that was caught by Jos Buttler, with a review following before the decision stuck.
From there, the pressure only intensified. Rabada was unsettling the batter who had been trying to slice through the field, Prabhsimran Singh, and in the sixth over he finally got his wicket—Prabhsimran departing for 15 off 14, a low score that looked even more uncharacteristic given how dangerous he can be. Shreyas Iyer then dragged PBKS to 35 for 3 during the Powerplay, but the innings soon turned into a full collapse. Jason Holder struck with intent, getting Nehal Wadhera to offer a catch behind by coaxing a poke at a length ball, and then the next over saw Iyer play one onto the stumps. PBKS, for the first time in two years of batting at their highest standard, lost five wickets before crossing 50. Their 51 for 5 after ten overs became the fourth-lowest Powerplay-to-midpoint total of IPL 2026.
Shedge’s surge changes the temperature
Despite that early damage, PBKS did not completely fall apart, and the innings moved back into focus around Suryansh Shedge’s acceleration. On the second ball of the 13th over, he launched the first six of the innings off Arshad Khan. Then, continuing to hunt momentum, he targeted left-arm spinner Manav Suthar in the same over, taking the attack further with a flurry of boundaries. In total, Shedge struck three sixes and two fours in a 27-run spell that hauled the team past the 100-run mark with 14 overs gone.
Just as importantly, he built the innings into something tangible—an over later, Shedge reached his maiden IPL fifty in just 24 deliveries. Even with the earlier wickets, that burst gave PBKS a fighting total rather than a fragile one.
Death-overs drama and a chase that never relaxed
Gujarat did respond late, though. Rabada returned to remove Shedge, and Holder delivered the kind of spell that changes matches in a hurry. He took two wickets in successive deliveries, dismissing Marcus Stoinis and Xavier Bartlett. For four overs at the end, Titans were extremely stingy—only 8, 8, 7 and 8 runs came from those phases. Still, the last over brought a direct clash of big-hitting and execution. Marco Jansen struck a straight six early in the final over, then added a four after an inside edge found the fine-leg boundary. However, the over ended with Jansen dismissed, leaving the chase finely balanced for the finish.
In the chase, Arshdeep Singh struck early by removing Shubman Gill, but Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler steadied the innings. They reached 58 for 1 at the end of the Powerplay, moving well ahead of the required rate. Yet the middle portion was not as smooth for Gujarat as it first appeared. Vyshak struck in the ninth over, dismissing Buttler and bringing Sindhu in at No. 4. Sindhu then immediately announced his presence by clearing the boundary with a six over backward square leg—GT’s first boundary in 28 balls.
There was a fascinating tactical ebb-and-flow as the middle overs unfolded. Shreyas Iyer brought back Marcus Stoinis before turning to Yuzvendra Chahal. Chahal’s spell did what it needed to do—he removed Sindhu in the 12th over, ensuring Punjab stayed in the contest. The run-rate equation still leaned toward the batting side—61 needed off 42—but PBKS attempted to claw back control. Sudharsan managed a couple of fours off Chahal, but Vyshak halted the momentum in the 15th over, removing him.
The finish arrived with everything tightening. Gujarat needed 40 off 30 balls with Rahul Tewatia and Sundar in the middle. Bartlett bowled a dramatic four-run over that reshaped the chase, leaving the pair to target 36 off four overs. Sundar then eased the pressure with two boundaries off Jansen—one created by an outside edge to third man, and the other a signature shift-and-scoop over short fine.
Tewatia tried to add one more strike to close the gap, but he mistimed and straightened the ball straight to the deep square leg fielder, handing Holder the moment. Bartlett conceded a four on the first ball of the 18th over to Sundar, but only three runs came from the next five deliveries. When Arshdeep returned, PBKS faced the task of defending 17 off 12. He nailed the full, wide lengths that made batters reach for timing, and the pressure finally forced an error. Holder tried to swing hard toward the mid-wicket fence, but Connolly cut it off, sprinted across, and took an excellent diving catch at the boundary.
With 11 to defend, Stoinis began the final over poorly. The equation slipped to 4 off 4, and tension built inside the stadium. It became 3 off 2 when Stoinis missed his yorker, but Sundar responded with the biggest moment of the death overs—scooping a full-toss over deep backward square for the only six of the final over, sealing the chase.
Next for Punjab Kings is a trip to Hyderabad, where they will take on their batting ideology twin SRH on May 6. Gujarat Titans, meanwhile, head to Jaipur to face Rajasthan Royals on May 9.
