The GT vs LSG clash was exhilarating, with Titans coming out on top at the end of the match.
Lucknow Super Giants posted 158 on the board with great knocks from Deepak Hooda and young Ayush Badoni. However, the total was always going to be a few runs short because of the due that falls in Wankhede during the 2nd inning of the match at night.
At the Toss:
Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to bowl first against his dear friend KL Rahul’s Super Giants.
LSG Innings:
Lucknow had the worst start imaginable, with KL Rahul getting dismissed on the first ball of the match. Mohammed Shami was in absolute prime in the GT vs LSG battle. He got the first ball to come back into the righthander Rahul who had no idea what had brushed his bat on its way to the keeper. Rahul was given not-out by the onfield umpire, but Shami and Mathew Wade were convinced that the Giants captain had nicked it and insisted Pandya take a successful review.
Shami was all over the Giants during the field restrictions. Pandya showed faith in him to give him 3 overs on the trot. Shami responded with 3 wickets for the Titans, including Rahul, Quinton de Kock and Manish Pandey. Varun Aaron removed the dangerous Evin Lewis to add to Giants’ trouble. Lucknow was tottering at 29-4 in 4.3 overs when Deepak Hooda and Ayush Badoni combined to form a gritty alliance.
Hooda and Badoni stayed away from taking unnecessary risks and only tried to rotate the strike in the initial phase of the partnership. Badoni, in particular, was struggling and could not get the timing right on many occasions. However, Hooda made his intentions clear after the strategic time-out and deposited Titans for two huge sixes. After smashing Pandya for three successive boundaries, Badoni reacted to his partner’s clamour and found his mojo.
Hooda and Badoni changed the tide of the match and registered 55 and 54 runs, respectively, for the Giants. Krunal Pandya played a lovely cameo of 21 runs in the death overs for the Giants in GT vs LSG clash.
GT Innings:
Gujarat Titans had a feeble start with Dushmantha Chameera sending Shubhman Gill and Vijay Shankar cheaply into the dug-out. In a surprising moment, Hardik Pandya promoted himself up the order to bat at no. 4. Pandya played some good looking shots and consolidated the GT innings with Mathew Wade.
Wade and Pandya formed a 57 runs stand for the third wicket to take Titans to 72 in 10 overs. However, Krunal Pandya and Deepak Hooda dismissed Hardik Pandya and Mathew Wade in quick succession to pile up the pressure on Gujarat Titans. Hardik scored 33 while Wade managed 30 runs. The duo of Rahul Tewatia and David Miller succeeded the pair of Pandya and Wade.
The two left-handers moved cautiously initially, but KL Rahul’s move of handing the crucial 16th over to Hooda allowed them to break the shackles. Tewatia and Miller dismantled Hooda to collect 21 runs off his over. Suddenly, the equation seemed in favour of the Titans; however, Miller’s wicket in the 19th over did light up a flicker of hope for Super Giants, but the young Abhinav finished the match in style. He scored a quickfire 15 off just 7 balls.
Tewatia remained unbeaten on 40* off 24 while Miller contributed a significant 30 off 21.
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