Gujarat Titans were struggling at 87-5 after 12.4 overs while chasing 170 runs against defending champions Chennai Super Kings at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Sunday when stand-in captain Rashid Khan joined forces with a well-settled David Miller.
Rashid revealed that the idea was to take the game deep and they were able to do that successfully. Khan, who was leading for the first time in the IPL, led from the front as he scored 40 runs from 21 balls.
Rashid shifted the momentum in his team’s favor as he smashed 23 runs against Chris Jordan in the 18th over (3 sixes and 1 four), which went for a total of 25 runs. The Afghanistan all-rounder added 70 runs with David Miller, who went on to score a match-winning knock of unbeaten 94 runs.
In fact, Gujarat Titans were behind the eight-ball as they needed 48 runs off the last three overs however Rashid Khan and David Miller were able to deliver the goods.
Rashid Khan stated that they were backing themselves to chase down 90 runs in the last seven overs and they were able to cross the line in the end.
Rashid Khan said in the post-match presentation, “It’s an amazing feeling in IPL, it’s a dream come true to lead the team and delivering that is something special. Just that we wanted to take the game deep. We were capable of chasing 90 runs in the last 7 overs, and that was the plan. We were trying to take the game as deep as possible. I haven’t batted in the first 5 games, that was the discussion, so I wanted to take the responsibility. We wanted two batters to score big, I just had a discussion with Miller and we tried to strike the ball hard. I needed to step up and take the responsibility, just wanted to back myself and that was the plan.”
Gujarat Titans are ticking the right boxes as a unit as they have won five out of their six matches. Thus, they are currently at the top of the points table with 10 points under their bag. The Titans will look to continue their good show in order to qualify for the playoff stages.
Apart from scoring 40 runs, Rashid Khan conceded only 29 runs in his quota of four overs. The Titans will next face Kolkata Knight Riders at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai on Saturday.
