With a target of 136 in hand in such a high-scoring IPL edition, Lucknow Super Giants were in for a comfortable win on Saturday at home against defending champions Gujarat Titans. And with a well-set KL Rahul at the crease, who had already scored yet another half-century in IPL 2023, LSG stood at a position where they required 30 off the final five overs with eight wickets in hand. But a classy bowling in the slog overs eventually leading to that unthinkable performance from the very experienced Mohit Sharma in the last over saw LSG succumb to a seven-run defeat. LSG suffered an unreal collapse in the final over, losing four consecutive wickets in their horrifying loss at home.
After the match, LSG head coach Gautam Gambhir's reaction went viral all over social media. The former India cricketer, who had only a week back broken into a wild celebration after LSG had defeated RCB at Chinnaswamy, was left helpless in the dug out. The picture grab was although showed a gloomy reaction from Gambhir during Rahul's sluggish knock of 68 runs off 61 balls.
ALSO READ: 'Kohli might look at Gill and think 'he's chasing me down the rails'': Vaughan's blistering take on strike rate debate
The picture sparked a meme fest on Twitter with fans calling it "karma", referring to that celebration in Bengaluru. Here are some of the tweets…
Unlike his other knocks in IPL 2023, which had garnered immense criticism over his strike rate, Rahul had approached the powerplay with intent. He scored 30 runs in the 19 balls he faced in the first six overs, but in the remaining 42 deliveries, he scored 38 runs. He eventually was- dismissed in the second ball of the last over while trying to pull the shorter one from Mohit for a six over square leg.
{{/usCountry}}Unlike his other knocks in IPL 2023, which had garnered immense criticism over his strike rate, Rahul had approached the powerplay with intent. He scored 30 runs in the 19 balls he faced in the first six overs, but in the remaining 42 deliveries, he scored 38 runs. He eventually was- dismissed in the second ball of the last over while trying to pull the shorter one from Mohit for a six over square leg.
{{/usCountry}}"We were well ahead in the game and I wasn't really trying to bat deep, I still wanted to play my shots, take on the bowlers, but they bowled well in that 2-3 over period, by Noor and Jayant, we perhaps should have taken a few more chances with wickets in hand, they bowled decently, but I think we missed out on some boundary opportunities, the pressure got to us in the last 3-4 overs, we played well until then. They did bowl well though," he said after the shocking loss.