Watch cricket video highlights between Lucknow Super Giants vs Gujarat Titans. Indian Premier League 2024 twenty first match, played at Lucknow.
With a valiant 163-run defense in Lucknow, the Lucknow Super Giants won their third game in a row and their first over the Gujarat Titans in five attempts. The host team had elected to bat first, and although the Titans got off to a strong start in their hunt for runs, Marcus Stoinis’ first half-century of the season supplied the necessary support. However, Yash Thakur took a first five-for to help destroy the innings.
After Umesh Yadav had struck twice with the new ball, skipper KL Rahul and Stoinis chose accumulation over fluidity in the LSG batting attempt. Both failed to raise the stakes, and it took Ayush Badoni’s appearance and Nicholas Pooran’s power bursts to lift them to an acceptable score.
The fact that LSG had never lost when defending a target of 160 or more worked in their favor. After sprinting to 54 points without a loss during the powerplay, the Titans were poised to challenge that record, but an incredible 8 for 48 collapse made it 13 from 13 for LSG instead. The spark came from Ravi Bishnoi’s sensational caught-and-bowled dismissal of Kane Williamson after Yash nicked one past Shubman Gill. The Titans collapsed as Krunal Pandya quickly finished his four overs at 3 for 11.
The fact that LSG’s new speed sensation, Mayank Yadav, left the club after only one over owing to a side strain made their command of a comfortable defense all the more impressive. Rahul’s team moved up to third place in the standings with six points.
Titans eased out of the starting blocks with a fifty opening stand within the powerplay, chasing what appeared to be a mediocre target. While Shubman Gill tried to play himself in, Sai Sudharsan showed off his composure and wrists by hitting four early boundaries, including two off Mayank in his lone over, in which the LSG fast man barely broke 140 kph. Titans appeared to be winning with Mayank needing to leave the field and M Siddharth having trouble with front-foot no-balls.
But the remarkable collapse began with the dismissal of Gill off the last ball of the sixth over. After Krunal completed a clean over, Ravi Bishnoi made a wonderful one-handed return catch off Titans impact substitute Kane Williamson with his second ball. The first ball of Krunal’s second over saw Sudharsan hole out to deep square leg, and BR Sharath top-edge a sweep to deep backward square. After losing four wickets for seven runs in the span of eighteen balls, Titans found themselves completely out of luck.
The Titans never made a comeback. As the asking rate increased to 12 an over, Krunal took a third wicket. However, the shrewd Yash came back to remove Rashid Khan and Vijay Shankar in the space of four deliveries, leaving the score at 93 for 7. The sole chance of an upset came from Rahul Tewatia, who twice cleared the ropes in 30 balls, but Yash finished the innings with career-best T20 statistics after he was caught deep square leg.
With Quinton de Kock making his 100th IPL appearance by clattering Umesh Yadav into the stands with the second delivery, LSG was looking to get off to a quick start against the new ball. He did not get it through the over, though, as a massive top edge to deep third ended an attempted repetition. After scoring four consecutive single-figure scores for his new team, Devdutt Padikkal left Lucknow looking vulnerable at 18 for 2 in the third over.
But Rahul is the ideal candidate for a rebuild, and with Stoinis by his side, the innings was salvaged. The two batted carefully in the middle of the innings after Spencer Johnson’s second over produced three boundaries. However, in the 13th over, Rahul nearly seemed to have his first shot in anger as he tried to drive Darshan Nalkande over long-on but failed to reach the target. The partnership terminated just as LSG was trying to make a run at it, worth 73 from 62 balls.
After misfiring on Noor Ahmed straight up in the next over, Stonis ought to have been removed, but Rashid missed the opportunity while sprinting in from a distance. While Stoinis broke free to smash Nalkande twice over long-on for a 40-ball half-century, he perished while attempting to target the same bowler, top-edging a skier to the keeper. Noor bowled his four overs off the reel for only 22 runs, allowing a solitary boundary.
LSG faced an uphill battle heading into the final overs, with Rashid still having two up his sleeve and two new batsmen at the crease. After giving up five singles off the 17th, Rashid was relieved somewhat by Pooran and Ayush Badoni, who took Mohit Shah for three boundaries in the next over. Pooran hit the legspinner over midwicket for his sole boundary of the day, but Badoni holed out trying to take on Rashid. Another six in the last over, in which Johnson gave up only eight runs, saw LSG surpass the crucial 160-mark.
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