Unheralded Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma put on 43 for the seventh wicket as Punjab Kings pulled off a three-wicket victory with one ball remaining against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on Thursday.

Chasing 200, they clawed back through Shashank and Ashutosh after losing steam in the middle of the innings. While Chattisgarh’s Shashank remained unbeaten on 61 off 29 balls, Ashutosh, who plays for Railways, contributed 31 off 17 balls.

It were the 18th and 19th overs that put Punjab back in the reckoning. Azmatullah Omarzai’s 18th produced 16 runs. Eighteen runs came off the 19th bowled by Mohit Sharma, which included two sixes and put Punjab Kings firmly in contention for a win.

Mohit’s earlier over, the 17th of the innings, had yielded only six.

Punjab never seemed to be in the running when Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed early and Prabhsimran Singh and Jonny Bairstow managed to put up only a semblance of a fight. At 70/4 and Punjab still needing 130 runs off 68 balls, all seemed lost.

But Shashank brought them back in the contest. He put to the shade Shubman Gill’s superb batting.

The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad has been one of Gill’s favourite grounds. The Gujarat Titans captain chose to display his strokeplay with another superlative effort on Thursday.

It was mainly because of Gill’s 89 not out off 48 balls and Rahul Tewatia’s unbeaten 23 off eight balls that Titans managed to reach 199/4.

It didn’t look very good for the home team after Wriddhiman Saha struggled to get going. Kane Williamson, who replaced David Miller, too wasted a few deliveries but Gill stood tall.

Gill had struggled to get going in the Titans’ previous three matches with scores of 31, 8 and 36. The start wasn’t ideal on Thursday too, but Gill showed his class.

He wasn’t getting the strike and faced only 10 balls in the Powerplay overs, and by the end of the 10th over, had faced only 19 balls. But it didn’t have any effect on Gill’s intent.