Punjab Kings vs Gujarat Titans, Match 18 - Live Cricket Score

Punjab Kings will take on the Gujarat Titans in the 18th game of the Indian Premier League 2023 on Thursday (April 13) at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali. Both teams have had a similar run so far this season, with two wins in three games. PBKS suffered a loss in their last outing against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. They posted a total of 143 runs for the loss of nine wickets in 20 overs on the back of a splendid batting performance from Shikhar Dhawan. He became only the fourth batter in IPL’s history to remain unbeaten on 99 runs. PBKS had lost nine wickets for just 88 runs before Dhawan added a record 55 runs for the 10th wicket alongside Mohit Rathee. The target was pretty small for SRH, and they chased down the same in 17.1 overs with eight wickets in hand. Dhawan was adjudged the Player of the Match for his heroics.

Defending champions Gujarat Titans suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders. GT scored 204 runs for the loss of four wickets while batting first after winning the toss. Sai Sudharsan continued his dream run this season with another half-century. Vijay Shankar played a fine knock of 63 runs off 24 deliveries and played some ridiculous shots. KKR didn’t have a good start as they lost two wickets inside the powerplay overs. But a 100-run stand between Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana helped them bounce back in a great fashion. Iyer was dismissed for 83 runs off 40 deliveries in the 16th over. In the 17th over, Rashid Khan dismissed three KKR batters on the first three deliveries of his over and claimed the first hat-trick of this season. In the end, Rinku Singh scored 40 runs off the last seven deliveries he faced with five consecutive sixes of the last over. Rinku helped KKR collect 29 runs in the last over and win the game by three wickets.

Hardik Pandya missed the last game against KKR due to an illness but will be available for this game. PBKS will be tempted to include both Liam Livingstone and Kagiso Rabada in the playing 11 for this game. They can slot in Livingstone in place of Matthew Short easily. But to pick Rabada, PBKS will either have to make Sikandar Raza or Nathan Ellis sit on the bench. Ellis has been at the top of his form this season, and there are no valid reasons for him to sit out. Raza has not been able to deliver a significant performance so far, but his absence can weaken the batting unit.