Gujarat Titans pulled off a miraculous heist against Lucknow Super Giants, in match 30 of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) season on Saturday, 22 April. Despite having only 136 runs to defend at the BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium, Hardik Pandya’s team restricted the opposition to a score of 128/7.
While the pitch in Lucknow is two-paced, posing a challenge for the batters, Lucknow’s opening pair of Rahul and Kyle Mayers made light work of it with his inhibition-free batting. Despite the required run rate being under seven runs per over, they decided against the slow-but-steady approach to accumulate 53 runs in the powerplay itself.
However, the inexplicable phenomenon of a strategic timeout resulting in a wicket had another chapter in this game, with Rashid Khan getting the better of Mayers in the very next over.
Whilst the new batter, Krunal Pandya prevented a second wicket in quick succession, his strike rate not was particularly impressive.
Despite being handed a reprieve when Abhinav Manohar dropped his catch in the 9th over, he could not take his team over the line, losing his wicket to a Noor Ahmad delivery after a run-a-ball 23. Albeit the scales were still tipped in Lucknow’s favour at that stage, none of the subsequent batters could find any momentum – including KL Rahul, who was already set by then.
Nicholas Pooran could score only a solitary run in seven deliveries, and being promoted up the order with the responsibility of relieving the pressure, Ayush Badoni could not produce anything more significant than a 6-ball 8. Interestingly, Rahul did manage to score a half-century before losing his wicket in the last over, but this game marked the 16th occasion of the batter’s fifty resulting in a losing cause.
While all of Pandya’s bowlers did well, lion’s share of the credit must be given to the exuberant Noor Ahmad, and the experienced Mohit Sharma. The pair combined to concede only 35 runs in seven overs, whilst also taking four wickets.
Hardik Shines in GT's Stop-Start Innings
Earlier, Lucknow's bowlers produced an immaculate performance to restrict the defending champions to a low total of 135/6.
Gujarat’s opening pair, which usually is reliable in getting the team off to decent starts, did not work their charm in this game, with Shubman Gill losing his wicket to Krunal Pandya in only the second over of the match – and that too – without contributing anything to his team’s total.
The next phase of the game was a tad peculiar, wherein both Wriddhiman Saha and Hardya Pandya found their footing, but they could not score runs as easily as they would have ideally preferred.
The powerplay produced only 40 runs, whereas the next four overs yielded 31 runs.
At 71/1 halfway through the innings, the stage was set for the pyrotechnics, which ultimately never arrived for the Titans – courtesy of wickets in regular intervals by KL Rahul’s bowlers. The first to depart in this sequence was Saha, as Krunal Pandya called for the conclusion of the 68-run second-wicket stand, after already having dismissed the Titans’ batting lynchpin in his first spell.
Abhinav Mahohar was promoted up the order with the solitary intention of playing a few big shots, but in his first attempt, he fell prey to what was an incredible catch by Naveen-ul-Haq. The incessant departures of new batters continued, with Vijay Shankar being able to add only 10 runs to Gujarat’s cause, albeit, skipper Hardik Pandya did hold the fort from one end.
With time running out for them, he decided to take the attack to Ravi Bishnoi in the 18th over, and did so efficaciously – by smashing a couple of sixes, alongside a boundary.
That flurry helped him record his first half-century of the season, but at the other end, David Miller struggled to tackle the tricky nature of the Lucknow pitch, scoring only six runs in twice as many deliveries.
From Lucknow’s perspective, Krunal Pandya was the most influential bowler – conceding only 16 runs besides dismissing both of Titans’ openers. Fellow spinner, Amit Mishra also did well to return with figures of 2-0-9-1.
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