Noor Ahmad struck in the very first ball he bowled on Thursday for Gujarat Titans, getting rid of Punjab Kings' Jonny Bairstow who was looking dangerous having scored 22 runs from 12 balls. The wicketkeepr batter, who had opened the innings alongside captain Shikhar Dhawan, had found the boundary four times already when Noor Ahmad stepped in to bowl the last of the batting powerplay.
The Afghan spinner produced a peach of a ball to get rid of Bairstow before he could inflict further damage.
The delivery with a certain flight landed between the bat and pad of the Englishman. Bairstow tried to play it in front foot with a straight bat but ended up playing all over the line -- creating a gap between the pad and the bat. It was enough for Noor's brilliant turning-back delivery to disturb the stumps.
NOOR GETS BAIRSTOW: WATCH VIDEO HERE
Right Through The Defence \|/ đź‘Ś
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 4, 2024
Noor Ahmad gets Jonny Bairstow
Powerplay done, #PBKS are 54/2
Watch the match LIVE on @StarSportsIndia and @JioCinema 💻📱#TATAIPL | #GTvPBKS | @gujarat_titans pic.twitter.com/v60gkXe7Sh
GT vs PBKS: As it happened
Skipper Shubman Gill led from the front with an unbeaten fifty to steer Gujarat Giants to an imposing 199/4. Gill made 89 off 48 balls, the highest individual score this season so far, and in the process hit six fours and four sixes to guide GT's innings, which was also helped generously by B Sai Sudharsan's 19-ball 33 and Rahul Tewatia's 8-ball 23.
Gill brought up his fifty off 31 balls with a boundary behind deep square leg in the 15th over. In his second spell, Harshal was wayward with his lengths and Tewatia made good use of it as the penultimate over yielded 20 runs. Tewatia played a blinder, including two boundaries of pacer Arshdeep Singh in the last two balls.
