Match detailsMullanpur, 7.30pm IST (2pm GMT)GT
Ashutosh Sharma played an innings to remember against Mumbai•BCCI
In the spotlight – Jitesh Sharma and David Miller
When the IPL began, Jitesh Sharma might have considered himself as India’s first-choice wicketkeeper. Now, after seven innings in which he has been unable to cross 30, and showing worrying signs of regression against pace bowling (average of 11.8 and strike rate of 109.2 in 2024 as opposed to 33.7 and 182.4 in his breakout year in 2022), he might have dropped down the pecking order. Can he pick himself up and dust himself off in time for the squad announcement for the T20 World Cup in May?
Titans looked half the side in the games that David Miller missed out this season due to injury. A lot of their success has been down to the South African’s consistency, which he was able to provide without sacrificing on his strike rate. Now that he’s fit again, the team will be looking to him to take control of their middle order.
Pitch and conditions – Pace vs spin
The average first-innings score in Mullanpur this IPL is 187. The conditions, as much as they have lent themselves to the batters, have also allowed fast bowlers to prosper. They have picked up 47 wickets – roughly five times as many as the spinners (9) have managed in four games so far.
Stats that matter – The Ashutosh and Shashank show
- Rashid Khan has dismissed Liam Livingstone three times in four innings in the IPL, while giving away 26 runs in 19 balls. But expand that to all T20s and Livingstone holds his own with a strike rate of 172. Among batters who have faced at least 50 balls of Rashid, no one hits him longer or harder.
- Ashutosh and Shashank have contributed 343 runs at a strike rate of 190 and average of 57. The rest of Punjab have contributed 820 runs at a strike rate of 127 and an average of 20.
- Titans have slowed down in every phase of play this season when compared to the last one – powerplay (7.42 vs 8.54), middle overs (7.47 vs 8.54) and death (10.21 vs 11.86).
- An IPL team’s premier strike bowler typically tends to operate in the death and that’s how Kagiso Rabada had been used previously. He did nearly 30% of his work during overs 17 to 20. This season, however, it’s gone down to 10%, potentially because Punjab rely on Arshdeep Singh in that stage of the innings.
- Rabada has benefited from this switch. He’s still contributing wickets. He’s got 10 this year which puts him joint-fifth, and his economy rate is 8.32 – only in 2019 and 2021 has he been more miserly.
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo