Gill, Buttler and Sai Sudharsan leave SRH on the brink of elimination

Another Gujarat Titans (GT) match, and we are again left wondering how they will go if their top three fall early with Rashid Khan at No. 7. Once again, Shubman Gill, Jos Buttler and B Sai Sudharsan dominated a bowling attack, albeit the listless Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) one, to post 224 on a black-soil pitch that was slow to begin with. All three of them are now among the top four run-getters in IPL 2025, with Sai Sudharsan reclaiming the Orange Cap with his 48 off 23 balls.

GT failed to defend 209 in the last game, which did raise questions, but that was a par score. Here, SRH's ordinary start with the ball - arguably the worst all year - set GT the platform for a clearly above-par total. In the run chase, the GT bowlers then bashed the hard lengths to stifle the SRH batters despite a 74 for Abhishek Sharma. Prasidh Krishna bowled four overs for just 19 runs and two wickets to bring the Purple Cap to GT as well.

GT are now second with 14 points, the same as table-toppers Mumbai Indians (MI), but with a game in hand. SRH were left on the brink, each of their remaining games a must-win affair but still no guarantee to take them through to the playoffs.

The GT template has been to be measured for the first three overs in order to assess the conditions. However, that doesn't mean they will look a gift horse in the mouth. Mohammed Shami, a former GT player, looked sluggish and kept missing his line. Gill got a pick-up six in the first over, and Sai Sudharsan cut and pulled five fours in the third.

On top of that, Pat Cummins dished out three half-volleys in his first over to let Gill catch up with Sai Sudharsan. The result was GT's best-ever powerplay at 82 for 0, but also another undesirable statistic for SRH. GT scored 79 of those 82 runs with shots they were in control of, the third-highest of the season; three of the top four, including the top, have come against SRH bowlers.

By the time the SRH bowlers got a hang of things, they needed nothing short of a collapse to make a comeback into the contest. All they managed was one wicket, that of Sai Sudharsan, on a late cut off a Zeeshan Ansari wrong'un. Two quiet overs followed, but then Gill started to pierce gaps with surgical precision. He didn't need any gifts anymore. In fact, he offered SRH one when he slowed down in an attempt to take what is now regarded a regulation single to short fine leg.

The resultant run-out gave SRH their best period in the field. Cummins began to use the middle of the pitch, Jaydev Unadkat followed suit, and 17 balls went without a boundary. Buttler, who looked like the extreme heat - it was 41 degrees at the start of the match - was getting to him, then took a few risks and brought the innings back on track. Of GT's top three batters, he faced the toughest conditions and bowling, which showed in his slower strike rate. But his 64 off 37 balls was key to GT getting the above-par score they had threatened all along.

Abhishek danced down at Mohammed Siraj off the first ball he faced, and lofted him over wide long-off. Travis Head crashed his second ball through the covers for four. They punished the new ball the best they could, but still, at 45 for 0 in four overs, they were barely keeping up with the asking rate.

Prasidh has been using hard lengths and changes of pace all IPL to be among the top wicket-takers, but on a pitch with low bounce, he decided to do away with slower balls. He just kept banging the middle of the pitch from his high release to trouble the batters. Well, Prasidh did try one yorker early, which Head managed to squeeze out for a four in what would be the only boundary off Prasidh.

The next ball got big on Head as he attempted a pull, and ended up in a sensational catch for Rashid Khan, who ran 32 metres to his right from deep square-leg, and still had to put in a dive. The tall bowlers then completely blocked boundaries from one end, which left Abhishek as the one fighting. They don't last when you are chasing such big totals.

The asking rate reached 12 at the end of the powerplay, 13 at the end of the ninth over, 14 with ten overs to go, and jumped from 14.57 to 16.33 in one Prasidh over, the 14th. Eventually, the wickets started to fall, and only an off night for Rashid the bowler - he went for 50 runs in three overs, his worst economy in a match - reduced the net-run-rate bonus for GT.