Ahmedabad: Dominating batting display from Wriddhiman Saha (81 off 43) and Shubman Gill (94* off 51 balls) and Mohit Sharma’s four-fer guided Gujarat Titans (GT) to a huge 56-run win over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match at Narendra Modi Stadium, here on Sunday.
Saha and Gill dominated the proceedings with the fearless hitting and the duo went on to build a 142-run partnership, which Avesh Khan broke in the 13th over. Then, skipper Hardik Pandya came in and played a quick cameo of 25 off 15 to keep the Titans on track to post the biggest score at the venue.
In reply, LSG was off to a strong start as the new opening pair of Kyle Mayers and Quinton de Kock came out guns blazing and racked up 72 runs in the Powerplay. After Mayers’ dismissal, the scoring rate just took a nose dive and LSG kept losing at regular intervals.
De Kock put up a fight and got 70 runs but no other batter managed to stay long on the crease. Ayush Badoni did get away a few lusty blows but it was too late to resurrect the innings and Lucknow suffered a big defeat.
Chasing a mammoth target, LSG got off to a much-needed good start with Mayers and De Kock dealing in boundaries and the visitors raced to 50 for no loss in four overs. The GT skipper introduced spin in the next over, bringing in his premier bowler Rashid Khan, but Mayres was on his merry way, smashing the Afghan spinner for a maximum and a boundary.
He then went for two boundaries against Noor Ahmed, as LSG were 72 for no loss at the end of the Power-play.
A couple of overs later, Mohit Sharma provided a breakthrough as Mayers went for the hook and got a top edge towards deep square-leg and Rashid was quick to sprint across to his right as completed an outstanding diving catch.
De Kock then whipped it over deep square-leg for a maximum and LSG came crossed the 100-run mark halfway through the innings.
Mohit and Rashid bowled brilliantly to slow the LSG run rate in the chase with just 15 runs coming between 11 and 14 overs, without a boundary. Soon, De Kock brought up his fifty in 31 balls including seven boundaries and a maximum. Deepak Hooda’s dismal run of form continued as he holed out after a sluggish start.
Hooda went deep in his crease and looked to smoke it away over the mid-wicket fence, he mistimed his shot and hit it straight down the throat of the incoming fielder at deep mid-wicket. Rahul Tewatia there took a simple catch and the pressure just kept building on LSG.
After going boundaryless for 26 balls, De Kock broke the shackles and thumped it straight back down the ground for a maximum. A delivery later Mohit outsmarted Marcus Stoinis and got another breakthrough for the Titans.
With the asking rate climbing and 89 runs in 26 balls, De Kock hammered Rashid a six over mid-wicket and the leg-spinner was quick to bounce back as he removed the set batter for 70.
Impact Player Ayush Badoni started with a six over fine-leg. The next over, Noor Ahmed removed Nicholas Pooran cheaply for 3, reducing LSG to 153/5.
With 73 needed in two overs, Mohit struck twice in the penultimate over to dismiss Badoni and skipper Krunal Pandya and completed his four-fer.
Badoni shuffled across and lofted it over the bowler’s head for a six and followed that up with a boundary and fell on the next delivery while attempting a sweep but got the top edge and the ball skied towards square-leg, Noor ran across from short fine-leg and took a good catch.
The next ball he removed Krunal, who tried to slog it away over long-on but mistimed it in the air as David Miller settled under it and pouched it safely.
Ravi Bishnoi hit a boundary in the final over with just formality left in the run chase, as the Titans restricted LSG to 171/7 in 20 overs and wrapped up the huge 56-run win.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 227/2 in 20 overs (Wriddhiman Saha 81 off 43, Shubman Gill 94 not out off 51; Avesh Khan 1-34, Mohsin Khan 1-42) beat Lucknow Super Giants 171/7 in 20 overs (Kyle Mayers 48, Quinton de Kock 70; Mohit Sharma 4-29) by 56 runs.
(IANS)
