IPL 2023, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) vs Gujarat Titans (GT): Krunal Pandya's 2-16 & 23, Hardik Pandya's 66 and Mohit Sharma's 2-17 are top performances. Gujarat Titans beat LSG and stay at 4th place in points table.
Brief Scores: Gujarat Titans 135-6 (Hardik 66, Saha 47; Krunal 2-16) best LSG 128-7 (Rahul 68, Mayers 24; Noor Ahmad 2-22) by 7 runs.
Player Of The Match: Mohit Sharma (2-17)
The Ekana Stadium in Lucknow hosted the defending Champions Gujarat Titans for the 30th Match of the tournament. Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bat first on this slow, sluggish wicket. Noor Ahmad came in for GT, while Amit Mishra was back in the eleven for Lucknow Super Giants.
Gujarat's Triumphant Win: Overcoming Lucknow's Challenges with Skill and Strategy
A typical slow, low, and sticky wicket at Ekana stadium, and batters struggled to find their rhythm. Krunal Pandya was once again experimental on this wicket picking two wickets. GT innings were moving as slow as a snail on a beach, scoring just 71 in 10 overs. Hardik Pandya and Wriddhiman Saha’s 68-run partnership was the only real building innings. Hardik was playing a sensible inning on this wicket while the surrounding others tried to go big and ended up going back to the pavilion. Hardik’s late jitters against Bishnoi were the catalyst as GT crawled towards 135-6 at the end of 20 overs.
Read More: IPL 2023, RR vs LSG: Avesh, Stoinis help LSG secure a thrilling win against RR; RR remain at top
In such low scorer chase, LSG always backs their batting lineup to steer away with a win with KL given the license to play a slow, sheet anchor innings. In the first six overs, LSG accelerated towards 53 runs losing no wickets and it looked like the game would be dusted inside 18 overs. In the next nine overs, LSG just scored 53 runs at below seven runs per over and the match still looked in the balance. In the next five, the GT bowling trio of Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma, and Mohammad Shami put on suction cups on the field as they gave just 22 runs in the next five overs picking five wickets and pocketing the game and continued their 3-0 winning streak against LSG.
Talking Points from LSG vs GT
KL Rahul played on his strengths of moving slowly chasing a low total but the game turned on its head as he failed to accelerate at any point during the game. LSG’s strategy of holding Stoinis back for too long backfired. GT bowlers bowled like a pack of wolves defending their base and kept their calm in the death overs to steal the game out of thin air.
Read More: IPL 2023, GT vs RR: Samson, Hetmyer help Rajasthan cruise through top spot; Gujarat at third
Top three performances from LSG vs GT
Krunal Pandya’s accurate left-arm spin tangles GT batters
Krunal Pandya was introduced in the second over of the innings and struck first blood right away of the second delivery of his innings dismissing Shubman Gill for a duck. Pandya’s stump-to-stump deliveries were the recipe of the day for LSG. He then came back again in the 11th over to break the 68 runs partnership between Hardik Pandya and Wriddhiman Saha. A four-over economical spell picking two wickets for just 16 runs.
Mohit Sharma and Mohammad Shami delivers the best death overs of IPL 2023 so far
LSG needed 23 runs of the 18 deliveries with seven wickets in hand and looked like would chase down the target with few deliveries to spare. Mohit Sharma bowled a brilliant 18th over giving just six runs away. In the final two, LSG needed 17 and Mohammed Shami bowled an absolute peach of an over giving just five away in the penultimate over. With 12 needed of the final six and KL on strike, LSG still looked like running away with the win. In the next three deliveries, GT picked three wickets and pocketed the match with Mohit’s brilliance and calmness with the ball in hand.
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Hardik the captain came to the rescue
A wicket that was slow and low, Hardik Pandya played probably the innings of the match. In the first 15 balls, Hardik just scored 9 runs, in the next 16-30 he accelerated a bit and scored 20 runs at a strike rate of 133.33. For the next 12 deliveries, Hardik gave respect to the tight bowling of LSG bowlers and decelerated to play at a strike rate of 100. In the next 7 deliveries of his innings, the real Hardik Pandya came to the show and punished Bishnoi for three sixes and scored 25 runs at a strike rate of 312.51. The captain played a perfect captain’s knock and anchored GT’s ship to a decent total. A decisive knock in the game's context.
Points Table Scenario & What's Next
With this win, GT jumped up the ladder to the fourth position with eight points and a +0.212 NRR. The Saturday doubleheader continued with Mumbai Indians taking on Punjab Kings at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
IPL 2023 Points Table
Read More: IPL 2023, GT vs RR: Samson, Hetmyer help Rajasthan cruise through top spot; Gujarat at third
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