As it happened: Gujarat Titans vs Punjab Kings, IPL 2022, DY Patil stadium, Mumbai

That's Liam Livingstone for you. And the match is over.

Punjab Kings return to winning ways by chasing down 144 in just 16 overs and they have done it against a team that had been beaten only once in nine games so far. Kings jump to fifth place on the points table, and their NRR gets a boost from -0.470 to -0.229.

Not many captains would have sent a left-hand batter, in Bhanuka Rajapaksa, to join a left-hand batter already on the pitch, in Shikhar Dhawan. It would have been totally acceptable if Mayank Agarwal, a right-hand batter, would have walked out himself at No. 3 once Bairstow fell in the third over. But the Punjab Kings think-tank decided to send a more attacking Rajapaksa and go after the bowling to make the equation comfortable before it turns into another close match and Titans run away with it. Rajapaksa mainly targeted the leg side with his pick-up shots, got a six off a top edge, and smoked 40 off 28 to help bring the asking rate under six an over. Kings send out the hard-hitting Liam Livingstone now, most probably to finish it off soon and give their NRR a boost. If they win comfortably tonight, they will jump to fifth spot ahead of RCB.

15 runs from the seventh over...

We know very well which team is more likely to hold their nerve if the match turns into a thriller. Maybe for that and other reason, the Kings batters have collected a few boundaries up front and brought the equation down to a comfortable 86 from 78. Dhawan has cut with timing and placement and Rajapaksa has used his pick-up shot effectively to collect a total of 10 fours and a six already. Kings are 58 for 1 after seven overs.

Jonny Bairstow opened and took first strike and lasted only six balls, of which four were attacking shots, but he scored just 1. He missed a pull against Shami's pace in the first over, middled a pull to deep fine leg, missed a slash outside off against Shami again, and finally miscued a pull to deep backward square leg where Pradeep Samgwan just about held on to the catch. Kings and Bairstow have been struggling with their starts, and even though Bairstow's promotion didn't work, we'll have to see how Agarwal's demotion pans out. Rajapaksa comes out at No. 3 to join Dhawan, 18 for 1 after three overs.

Bairstow's scores this IPL: 1, 32, 6, 9, 12, 12 and 8.

Will Gujarat Titans’ spinners go all out against PBKS?
Punjab Kings have the worst scoring rate against spinners this IPL (6.89) and in this game they’re up against Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia. Rashid has had a superb economy rate of 7.11 in 36 overs so far but Tewatia has leaked 13 an over! Will we see Rashid unleashed early against Kings’s top order because:

Scrambled seam, yorkers, slower ones, wide length balls, hard lengths...these death overs had them all. Titans were 108 for 4 with four overs left, before Rabada removed Tewatia and Rashid in consecutive balls, Arshdeep nailed a yorker to send back Sangwan in the next over just after Sudharsan smacked a six for his fifty, and Rabada made Ferguson hole out to end with 4 for 33. Arshdeep wasn't as economical in the death overs tonight, but he kept going for those yorkers, and barring a no ball in the last over he didn't let Sudharsan and the Titans tail get away with too many. 143 for 8 doesn't look all that bad now. Can Kings get it though?

...but doesn't get it. Kagiso Rabada returns to the attack with two left in the bag to bowl the 17th and 19th overs, and he has got two big wickets in the death overs, of Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan on consecutive balls. He started the over with two wides while trying to go for the wide length balls, and then finally got it in the slot which Tewatia top edged to short third man. Next ball a cross-seamed stifling length ball which Rashid can only edge behind to the keeper. Sangwan blocks the hat-trick ball, Sudharsan is still out there, closing in on his fifty, and Titans are 114 for 6 with 18 balls to go.

S Sudharsan has flicked some switch on after Miller's dismissal. He has since then struck a four for three overs in a row, against Livingstone, Dhawan and the returning Chahar. The boundaries had dried up for Titans since Saha's dismissal in the fourth over and with the Kings bowling to their fields with stifling lines, Titans had gone without a boundary for eight overs in a row, keeping their scoring rate to just six an over. Until Sudharsan found a few gaps and pulled the run rate to over 6.50 an over. Five overs to go, three of which will be bowled by Arshdeep Singh. How many can Titans get?

He had bowled 10 balls for just nine runs, four dots and no boundaries. Punjab Kings might have thought of using him for just one over initially but Chahar's injury has meant Livingstone is now bowling his third. He has kept it tight against the left-hand batters. It's been 45 balls since the last boundary, in the fourth over, David Miller gets a full one but there's no room to get under it nicely and he hands a simple catch to long-off. Titans struggling at 67 for 4. Rahul Tewatia joins Sudharsan.

Titans were 56 for 3 after nine overs, Livingstone had just bowled one and Agarwal brought on legspinner Rahul Chahar against two left-hand batters with the longer boundary on their leg side. On the second ball, Chahar tries to collect a flat throw from the deep while the batters run back for a quick second and he has hurt his bowling hand in the process. Chahar runs off the field for treatment, Livingstone completes the over and Titans have crawled along to 62 for 3 at the halfway mark. They do have a powerful lower order so let's see where they end up.

He got rid of MS Dhoni last week and now he's removed the dangerous Hardik Pandya. Rishi Dhawan strikes in his first over to make Hardik edge behind and Titans are in trouble at 46 for 3 after seven overs. The boundaries have dried up since Saha's wicket and with two left-hand batters in Sudharsan and David Miller in the middle, Agarwal brings on the offbreaks of Liam Livingstone.

That's a quiet over from Arshdeep to end the powerplay. There's been swing for Sandeep Sharma for some edges, a run-out off a direct hit, a few fours and a six off Rabada, and Titans have had to put the brakes after a steady start. They are 42 for 2 after the powerplay, their joint second-slowest start in that phase this IPL. Sandeep has bowled three in the powerplay and Arshdeep just one, so we know who's going to bowl in the death yet again.

A little bit of drama in the third over as Gill taps Sandeep Sharma into the covers and calls for a quick single, and when he's three-fourths down the pitch he bumps into the bowler, loses some speed, and falls very short as Rishi Dhawan gets a direct hit from cover. Gill looks back towards Sandeep in frustration, but replays show that Sandeep was merely standing there; he neither changed his direction or path nor did he come in Gill's path intentionally. Gall gone for 9, Titans 17 for 1.

Update: In the next over, Saha goes for a few shots too many and is caught by mid-off after scoring 21 out of the team's score of 34. Sudharsan and Pandya out in the middle, both on 0 off 0.

A startling stat for Gujarat Titans before we get to the match-ups: they have hit the least sixes this IPL (49)but they have struck the most fours (151). Now the match-ups as the match gets started:

Titans captain Hardik Pandya has opted to bat, it's the first such instance in a night match this IPL. It could be because teams batting first have won four of the last seven games at the DY Patil Stadium. Both team are unchanged, which means either Yash Dayal is still not fit or Pradeep Sangwan was so good in the last match that he has been retained over a fit Dayal.

Will Hardik bowl today? Unlikely. "I'm quite close to bowling now but it's better for me to come back gradually, don't want to rush myself," he says at the toss. "I have the luxury of taking a couple games off because of our position on the table."