Lucknow: Skipper KL Rahul managed to snatch defeat from jaws of victory with a baffling batting approach as defending champions Gujarat Titans beat Lucknow Super Giants by seven runs in a low-scoring IPL thriller, here on Saturday. Chasing target of 136 on a sluggish pitch, LSG were cruising along at 105 for 1 after 14 overs with 31 needed off 36 deliveries but ended at 128 for 7 at the end of 20 overs.
Veteran Mohit Sharma (2/17 in 3 overs) required to defend only 12 off the final over and he removed rival captain Rahul (68 off 61 balls) and kept hitting the blockhole length to conceded only five runs in the end with another three wickets lost in the process. But the entire blame falls on the captain, who got 50 off 33 balls and then consumed another 28 deliveries for his 18. There were two 50 plus stands with Kyle Mayers (24 off 19 balls) and Krunal Pandya (23 off 23 balls) but in the end even the biggest Titans fans would agree that 136 was difficult to defend.
Left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad bowled two brilliant overs to return with figures of 4-0-18-2, while Mohammed Shami's international experience saw him concede just 5 in the penultimate over, leaving Mohit with a tricky assignment which he completed with elan. LSG lost the game in the last five overs with Noor triggering the turnaround keeping Rahul in check. With the win, GT reached the fourth spot with 8 points in the IPL standing, while LSG remained at the second spot with same points but with better net run-rate.
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A monumental turnaround 🤯🤯@gujarat_titans clinch a narrow 7-run victory to get back to winning ways 🙌
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 22, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/TtAH2CiXVI#TATAIPL | #LSGvGT pic.twitter.com/1H6bd2yVdT
">A monumental turnaround 🤯🤯@gujarat_titans clinch a narrow 7-run victory to get back to winning ways 🙌
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 22, 2023
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/TtAH2CiXVI#TATAIPL | #LSGvGT pic.twitter.com/1H6bd2yVdTA monumental turnaround 🤯🤯@gujarat_titans clinch a narrow 7-run victory to get back to winning ways 🙌
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 22, 2023
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/TtAH2CiXVI#TATAIPL | #LSGvGT pic.twitter.com/1H6bd2yVdT
Defending the total, Shami bowled a maiden opening over but he erred in his second over and was dispatched by KL Rahul for three successive fours to amass 14 runs. Mayers too got into the act, smashing Rashid Khan for 16 runs with the help of back-to-back fours and a maximum. LSG raced to 53 for 0 in the first six overs.
Rashid, however, had his man when he knocked over his stumps with a quicker delivery in the 7th over to break the partnership. Krunal Pandya, who survived an LBW call and was then dropped by Abhinav Manohar off Rashid, build a fine partnership with the duo finding the boundary once every over to keep their chase on track.
However, wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad struck twice, removing Krunal Pandya (23) and Nicholas Pooran (1) and after a string of dot balls, things became tight for LSG. Needing 23 off 18, Badoni joined Rahul but Mohit Sharma and Shami conceded just 5 runs each in the next two overs, leaving LSG 13 to get in the last six balls which they failed to get.
Earlier, with the pitch being a tad slow, spinner Krunal Pandya emerged Lucknow's best bowler as he snapped two wickets, giving away just 16 runs after coming to bowl in the second over. With pacer Naveen-ul-Haq (1/19) and Marcus Stoinis (2/20) also doing their job, Lucknow restricted Gujarat to 135 for six. Infact, it could have been far worse but Ravi Bishnoi had a forgettable outing, bleding 49 in his quota of four overs. It was the 19 runs conceded by the spinner in the 18th over that lifted GT in the end.
When GT batted, Wriddhiman Saha made 47 off 37 balls to lay the foundation but Hardik couldn't get going although he somewhat made up for the slow batting with some big hits in the end. Krunal drew first blood, dismissing Shubhman Gill for a duck in just his second delivery with the opener holing out to Ravi Bishnoi at long-off.
Saha managed to pick up boundaries against each of the bowlers, especially Bishnoi, who was punished twice on the off-side as GT scored 40 for 1 in the Powerplay overs. Hardik finally broke free, sending Bishnoi across extra cover to bring up the 50-run partnership and then depositing him over long-off to rack up 14 runs in the 9th over.
After 12 for 1 in his first three overs, Krunal returned to deceive a well-set Saha with his flight and the opener was caught by Deepak Hooda. Soon it was 77 for 3 as Amit Mishra set up Abhinav Manohar (3) with a loopy ball outside off and Naveen-ul-Haq took a stunning catch at deep cover with a full stretch dive. Pandya and newman Vijay Shankar couldn't push the score and Naveen-ul-Haq returned to clean up the latter as GT reached 92 for 4 in 15 overs and last five overs yielded 43 runs. (PTI)
Brief Scores:
Gujarat Titans: 135 for 6 in 20 overs (Hardik Pandya 66, Wriddhiman Saha 47; Krunal Pandya 2/16).
Lucknow Super Giants: 128 for 7 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 68, Kyle Mayer 24; Rashid Khan 1/33, Mohit Sharma 2/17).
IPL Scoreboard: GT vs LSG
Lucknow Super Giants (Target: 136 runs from 20 overs)
KL Rahul c Yadav b Sharma 68
Kyle Mayers b Rashid Khan 24
Krunal Pandya st Saha b Noor Ahmad 23
Nicholas Pooran c Pandya b Noor Ahmad 1
Ayush Badoni run out 8
Marcus Stoinis c Miller b Sharma 0
Deepak Hooda run out 2
Prerak Mankad not out 0
Ravi Bishnoi not out 0
Extras: (LB-1 W-1) 2
Total: (For 7 wickets in 20 overs) 128
Fall of wickets: 1/55 2/106 3/110 4/126 5/126 6/127 7/128
Bowling: Mohammed Shami 3-1-18-0, Jayant Yadav 4-0-26-0, Rashid Khan 4-0-33-1, Mohit Sharma 3-0-17-2, Noor Ahmad 4-0-18-2, Hardik Pandya 1-0-7-0, Rahul Tewatia
1-0-8-0.
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Half innings report:
Lucknow: Hardik Pandya top-scored with a 50-ball 66 but slow batting in the middle overs meant that Gujarat Titans could post only a modest 135 for six against Lucknow Super Giants in their IPL match here on Saturday. Wriddhiman Saha made 47 off 37 balls to lay the foundation but Hardik couldn't get going for most part of his innings although he somewhat made up for the slow batting with some big hits in the end.
With the pitch a tad slow and aiding the spinners, stroke-making was difficult and Krunal Pandya emerged Lucknow's best bowler as he snapped two wickets, giving away just 16 runs after coming to bowl in the second over. Pacer Naveen-ul-Haq (1/19) and Marcus Stoinis (2/20) also did the job but Ravi Bishnoi had a forgettable outing as he conceded 49 off his quota of four overs.
The black soil pitch didn't offer much bounce and pace but Naveen-ul-Haq used the conditions well, not allowing the batters to break free as he conceded just 12 in his first two overs. Krunal drew first blood, dismissing Shubhman Gill for a duck in just his second delivery with the opener holing out to Ravi Bishnoi at long-off.
Saha looked proactive as he managed to pick up boundaries against each of the bowlers, especially Bishnoi, who was punished twice on the off-side as GT scored 40 for 1 in the Powerplay overs. Hardik, who promoted himself to No. 3, found the going tough initially but Saha was in good nick as he dispatched Stoinis across backward point for another boundary.
Hardik finally broke free, sending Bishnoi across extra cover to bring up the 50-run partnership and then depositing him over long-off as the 9th over yielded 14 runs. After 12 for 1 in his first three overs, Krunal returned to deceive a well-set Saha with his flight and the opener was caught by Deepak Hooda.
Soon it was 77 for 3 as Amit Mishra set up Abhinav Manohar (3) with a loopy ball outside off and Naveen-ul-Haq took a stunning catch at deep cover with a full stretch dive. Pandya and newman Vijay Shankar couldn't push the score and Naveen-ul-Haq returned to clean up the latter as GT reached 92 for 4 in 15 overs.
The 16th and 17th overs slowed down the Titans but with Mishra subbed out, Bishnoi bowled the 18th and Pandya slammed two sixes and a four to bring up his fifty in 44 balls. The over yielded 19 runs. Naveen-ul-Haq bowled another good over as David Miller just couldn't get going. Hardik clubbed Stoinis for a maximum before holing out to KL Rahul.
Brief Scores: Gujarat Titans 135 for 6 in 20 overs (Hardik Pandya 66 off 50 balls, Wriddhiman Saha 47 off 37 balls; Krunal Pandya 2/16) vs LSG.
IPL Scoreboard: GT vs LSG
Gujarat Titans:
Wriddhiman Saha c Hooda b Pandya 47
Shubman Gill c Ravi Bishnoi b Pandya 0
Hardik Pandya c Rahul b Stoinis 66
Abhinav Manohar c Naveen-ul-Haq b Mishra 3
Vijay Shankar b Naveen-ul-Haq 10
David Miller c Hooda b Stoinis 6
Rahul Tewatia not out 2
Extras: (LB-1) 1
Total: (For 6 wickets in 20 overs) 135
Fall of wickets: 1/4 2/72 3/77 4/92 5/132 6/135
Bowling: Naveen-ul-Haq 4-0-19-1, Krunal Pandya 4-0-16-2, Avesh Khan 3-0-21-0, Ravi Bishnoi 4-0-49-0, Marcus Stoinis 3-0-20-2, Amit Mishra 2-0-9-1.
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Toss report:
Lucknow: Gujarat Titans (GT) won the toss on Saturday and elected to bat against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) here at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in the 30th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Here's what the captains of the both sides had to say:
Hardik Pandya: We will bat first. Looks like a slow track, want to get the best out of it. There is no time to test our batters now. I am sure they have would have batted first as well if they won the toss. They're doing a fantastic job. I think on this wicket, the better option is to bat first. We're not worried about our record while chasing. Even if the records say that we still have to do a good job. Alzarri misses out and Noor Ahmad comes in.
KL Rahul: I would have batted but not worried about it. We will play good cricket. We bowled against SRH as well on the same strip, we would like to restrict them to a good target and chase it down. Same 12 players. Yudhvir misses out, Amit Mishra comes in, he was the impact player in the last game. Trusted the 12-13 players, have had a few injuries, each game someone has put their hand up and done the job for the team. We are gelling together well and winning games. That goes hand in hand. it's been a good vibe in the dressing room.
Teams:
Gujarat Titans (Playing XI): Wriddhiman Saha(w), Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya(c), Vijay Shankar, Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma
Lucknow Super Giants (Playing XI): KL Rahul(c), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Nicholas Pooran(w), Ayush Badoni, Naveen-ul-Haq, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi
