By Neil Manthorp.
Gujarat Titans openers Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill put the Lucknow Super Giants to the sword as the home side racked up an imposing total of 227 for two to set up a comfortable victory by 56 runs in their IPL match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Despite a flying start to the run-chase from openers Kyle Mayers (48 from 32 balls) and Quinton de Kock, who batted beautifully for 70 from 41 balls in his first games of the tournament (7×4, 3×6) the asking rate climbed relentlessly with the regular fall of wickets and Lucknow subsided to 171 for seven.
Mayers was spectacularly caught by Rashid Khan on the deep midwicket boundary and Rashid (1-34) accounted for De Kock with a googly that clipped leg-stump. Thereafter the batting folded meekly with Mohit Sharma claiming 4-29 allowing the defending champions to extend their lead at the top of the log to three points with their eighth victory in 11 games.
Earlier 38-year-old Saha led the way reaching his half-century in just 20 balls as the home side posted a remarkable 78 without loss in the Power Play, with seamer Mohsin Khan’s first two overs costing an eye-watering 34 runs.
Saha’s 81 came from just 43 balls with 10 fours and four sixes before another leg-side flick was smartly caught on the boundary, but there was no stopping Gill who blasted seven sixes and two fours on his way to an unbeaten 94 from only 51 deliveries.
Captain Hardik Pandya joined the run-feast with 25 from 15 balls (1×4, 2×6) and David Miller struck a pair of fours and a leg-side six in his 20 not-out from just 12 balls.
It was a chastening day for the bowlers in sweltering heat – eight were used in an effort to stem the flow of runs with Mayers (1-0-16-0) and Marcus Stoinis (1-0-20-0) contributing 12 especially expensive deliveries between them.
Lucknow remain in third place with 11 points from 11 games.
GUJARAT TITANS: Wriddhiman Saha (wkt), Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya (captain), Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohit Sharma, Noor Ahmad, Mohammed Shami
LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS: Quinton de Kock (wkt), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Karan Sharma, Krunal Pandya (captain), Marcus Stoinis, Swapnil Singh, Yash Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Avesh Khan.