Shubman Gill scored an excellent half-century to set Gujarat Titans up for an impressive 62-run win over Lucknow Super Giants in their Tata Indian Premier League match against Lucknow Super Giants at the MCA Stadium in Pune on Tuesday night.
Gill hit seven fours on his way to an unbeaten 63 runs that came off 49 deliveries to power GT to a score of 144 for four in 20 overs.
In their chase, LSG only managed 82 runs in 13.5 overs, thanks to some excellent bowling from Rashid Khan and the debutant, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore.
With this victory, GT have qualified for the playoffs.
Gujarat did not have the start they would have hoped for when they won the toss and chose to bat first. At the very least, they would have hoped to have gone through the PowerPlay with as little damage as possible to their wickets column. That was not to be.
Hardik Pandya’s side struggled to get going and lost early wickets trying to push up the run rate. First to go was the in-form Wriddhiman Saha. Saha has only been dismissed once in the PowerPlay so far in the tournament. The 37-year-old wicketkeeper fell to Mohsin Khan’s bowling for an 11-ball five.
Hot on Saha’s heels was Matthew Wade. The Australian star, who boasts impressive IPL credentials, followed Saha back to the dugout 10 balls later. Wade scooped the delivery straight into Quinton de Kock’s gloves while trying to get a second boundary of the over.
Since 2018, Wade has had a strike rate of 140 in the PowerPlay. Today, Wade was marginally better than this strike rate but added only 10 runs to the total.
Lucknow’s bowlers, led by Mohsin Khan and Dushmantha Chameera, dominated the PowerPlay and restricted Gujarat to 35 for two in the first six overs, 14 runs less than the average PowerPlay score at the MCA so far in the tournament. 35 for two is also the lowest PowerPlay score for Gujarat so far in the tournament.
STUTTERING
Just when they looked like they were settling into a decent partnership, Gujarat found themselves having to rebuild again immediately after the Strategic Timeout. Hardik Pandya, who had built a 27-run partnership with Shubman Gill, fell when he slashed at and edged a wide delivery from Avesh Khan, caught by De Kock behind the stumps.
The Titans captain was dismissed after contributing 11 runs off 13 deliveries.
Gujarat had to wait until the 16th over for their first six of the innings. It came off David Miller’s bat. 15.3 overs is the longest any team has taken to hit a six in the IPL this year.
Just when it looked as if Gujarat were going to accelerate, they lost another wicket. Four deliveries after hitting his six, Miller spliced a Jason Holder delivery into the hands of Ayush Badoni stationed at deep point. The Proteas star departed after scoring a handy 26 runs off 24 balls.
Miller and Gill’s 52-run partnership was Gujarat’s highest partnership of the match. Miller’s replacement at the crease was Rahul Tewatia.
Tewatia, who was dropped on 10 by Deepak Hooda in the 19th over, made Lucknow pay for it by scoring 12 runs off the next six balls he faced. Tewatia’s contribution helped Gujarat reach a defensible 144 for four. 144 for four is the joint lowest total by a team batting first at the MCA.
Avesh Khan was Lucknow’s most successful bowler with two wickets from four overs at an economy of 6.50 runs an over. Khan and Holder also walked away with a wicket each.
DOWNHILL
Later in the evening, the Titans had a worse start compared to Gujarat. The Lucknow side lost their opening batters within eight deliveries of each other. First to go was Proteas star De Kock (11 off 10 balls), who hit six and was out the next delivery. De Kock’s screamer was caught by the debutant Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore at point.
KL Rahul followed De Kock back to the dressing-room almost immediately. The LSG captain was dismissed after 4.5 overs while trying to play an aggressive pull shot off Mohammed Shami’s bowling.
Lucknow debutant Karan Sharma almost emulated De Kock’s dismissal. The 23-year-old from Uttar Pradesh opened his IPL account with a lovely ram through the covers for a boundary. Sharma was then dismissed with the next delivery when he slashed at a Yash Dayal delivery and edged it to short third man. Things went downhill for LSG from that moment onwards.
Lucknow’s innings imploded in the next 38 balls from the middle of the eighth over. In the period between 7.3 and 13.5 overs, they lost seven wickets for a mere 37 runs as Rashid Khan and Sai Kishore took control of the innings.
The first wicket to fall was that of Krunal Pandya. LSG would have wanted the older Pandya to stick around if they were to have the best shot at victory, but that was not to be.
Krunal Pandya was dismissed, stumped by Wriddiman Saha after straying out of his crease lunging at a Rashid Khan delivery after 7.3 overs. Rashid Khan has taken 145 wickets in his IPL career and only four of them have been out stumped, including Pandya’s dismissal.
STRANDED
Compared to where Gujarat were at the same stage, Lucknow were trailing. After 7.3 overs GT was on 42 for two and LSG was on 44 for four.
Shortly after Pandya’s dismissal, Sai Kishore bagged his debut wicket with Ayush Badoni’s dismissal. Twenty-two-year-old Badoni danced down the track, intent on lofting the ball through the covers, but missed it completely to provide Saha with an easy stumping.
Three balls later, Lucknow lost the wicket of Marcus Stoinis. The Australian big hitter found himself stranded in the middle of the track attempting to squeeze in two tight runs. Four deliveries after Stoinis’s dismissal, Holder had to depart after scoring one run from two deliveries.
At this point, the match was all but done. From here, Gujarat needed only 11 balls to bowl out the remainder of the LSG batters.
Sai Kishore made his debut even sweeter when he took his second IPL wicket with the dismissal of Mohsin Khan, who had only added one run to the LSG total.
Whatever hope that LSG supporters might have had, against all odds, was snuffed when Deepak Hooda was dismissed by Rashid Khan.
Last to go was Avesh Khan, who played a four-ball cameo that yielded 12 runs. Avesh Khan, who cleared the boundary twice, hit the most sixes of the night.
Rashid Khan was Gujarat’s most successful bowler with four wickets for 24 runs from 3.5 overs. Kishore ended the day with two wickets from two overs at an economy of 3.50 runs an over.