What cost Gujarat Titans match against Punjab Kings

Gujarat Titans skipper Shubman Gill feels dropped catches made it hard for the hosts during their match against Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday.

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GT had 200 on board to defend but their fielding woes which saw them drop a couple of catches eventually led to their downfall.

In the eleventh over, Azmatullah Omarzai dropped Sikandar Raza's catch. In the 17th over, veteran pacer Umesh Yadav dropped PBKS impact substitute Ashutosh Sharma's catch.

At that time, Ashutosh was on three runs and in the next 14 balls, he went on to score 28 runs at a strike rate of 200 which turned out to be a game-changing knock for PBKS.

"I think a couple of catches went down, never easy (to win) when you drop catches. Bowlers did a decent job, when the ball is coming onto the bat, it's difficult to defend, I wouldn't say we were short (on runs). The new ball was doing something. 200 was good enough. We were right in the game till about the 15th over. Always under pressure with dropped catches," Gill said after the match.

"There are always areas to improve. I think 200 was good enough. When you drop catches, you will be in trouble," added Gill.

Gill surprised everyone when he decided to hand the ball to uncapped pacer Darshan Nalkande and defend seven runs in the final over.

The 24-year-old GT skipper backed the decision saying, "With the way he's (Nalkande) bowled in the last match and with 7 runs to go, it was a no brainer for us. People who you haven't seen will come and play knocks like these and that's the beauty of IPL."