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, in Lucknow on April 22.
Chasing goal of 136 on a sluggish pitch, LSG had been cruising alongside at 105 for 1 after 14 overs with 31 wanted off 36 deliveries however ended at 128 for 7 on the finish of 20 overs.
Veteran Mohit Sharma (2/17 in 3 overs) required to defend solely 12 off the ultimate over and he eliminated rival captain Rahul (68 off 61 balls) and stored hitting the blockhole size to conceded solely 5 runs ultimately with one other three wickets misplaced within the course of.
But the whole blame falls on the captain, who acquired 50 off 33 balls after which consumed one other 28 deliveries for his 18. There had been two 50 plus stands with Kyle Mayers (24 off 19 balls) and Krunal Pandya (23 off 23 balls) however ultimately even the largest Titans followers would agree that 136 was troublesome to defend.
Left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad bowled two good overs to return with figures of 4-0-18-2, whereas Mohammed Shami’s worldwide expertise noticed him concede simply 5 within the penultimate over, leaving Mohit with a difficult project which he accomplished with elan.
LSG misplaced the sport within the final 5 overs with Noor triggering the turnaround holding Rahul in test.
With the win, GT reached the fourth spot with 8 factors within the IPL standing, whereas LSG remained on the second spot with similar factors however with higher internet run-rate. Defending the entire, Shami bowled a maiden opening over however he erred in his second over and was dispatched by KL Rahul for 3 successive fours to amass 14 runs.
Mayers too acquired into the act, smashing Rashid Khan for 16 runs with the assistance of back-to-back fours and a most. LSG raced to 53 for 0 within the first six overs.
Rashid, nevertheless, had his man when he knocked over his stumps with a faster supply within the seventh over to break the partnership.
Krunal Pandya, who survived an LBW name and was then dropped by Abhinav Manohar off Rashid, construct a nice partnership with the duo discovering the boundary as soon as each over to preserve their chase on observe.
However, wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad struck twice, eradicating Krunal Pandya (23) and Nicholas Pooran (1) and after a string of dot balls, issues turned tight for LSG.
Needing 23 off 18, Badoni joined Rahul however Mohit Sharma and Shami conceded simply 5 runs every within the subsequent two overs, leaving LSG 13 to get within the final six balls which they failed to get.
Earlier, with the pitch being a tad sluggish, spinner Krunal Pandya emerged Lucknow’s greatest bowler as he snapped two wickets, gifting away simply 16 runs after coming to bowl within the second over.
With pacer Naveen-ul-Haq (1/19) and Marcus Stoinis (2/20) additionally doing their job, Lucknow restricted Gujarat to 135 for six.
Infact, it may have been far worse however Ravi Bishnoi had a forgettable outing, bleding 49 in his quota of 4 overs. It was the 19 runs conceded by the spinner within the 18th over that lifted GT ultimately.
When GT batted, Wriddhiman Saha made 47 off 37 balls to lay the inspiration however Hardik couldn’t get going though he considerably made up for the sluggish batting with some large hits ultimately.
Krunal drew first blood, dismissing Shubhman Gill for a duck in simply his second supply with the opener holing out to Ravi Bishnoi at long-off.
Saha managed to decide up boundaries towards every of the bowlers, particularly Bishnoi, who was punished twice on the off-side as GT scored 40 for 1 within the Powerplay overs.
Hardik lastly broke free, sending Bishnoi throughout further cowl to convey up the 50-run partnership after which depositing him over long-off to rack up 14 runs within the ninth over.
After 12 for 1 in his first three overs, Krunal returned to deceive a well-set Saha along with his flight and the opener was caught by Deepak Hooda.
Soon it was 77 for 3 as Amit Mishra arrange Abhinav Manohar (3) with a crazy ball exterior off and Naveen-ul-Haq took a shocking catch at deep cowl with a full stretch dive.
Pandya and newman Vijay Shankar couldn’t push the rating and Naveen-ul-Haq returned to clear up the latter as GT reached 92 for 4 in 15 overs and final 5 overs yielded 43 runs.
Scoreboard
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.
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
Gujarat Titans 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.
