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IPL 2023: Gujarat Titans steal win as KL Rahul and LSG lose steam
Defending IPL champions Gujarat Titans win by seven runs after Lucknow Super Giants, needing 26 to win off 20 deliveries, implode in the last three overs
The slow pitch provided immediate context as a hard battle for the batters lay ahead. The day game in summer heat meant the surface was likely to slow down further as the game progressed, not affording the chasing side the advantage of it firming up unlike in a night game with dew playing a role. The wider context was provided by an IPL season that has been about exciting, close finishes.
Still, few could have predicted such a twist in the tale, that Lucknow Super Giants would collapse in a heap, in a dramatic final over that saw four wickets tumble. It handed holders Gujarat Titans a seven-run victory in the clash between the newest IPL members in Lucknow on Saturday.
GT skipper Hardik Pandya led the way though his 66 (50b, 2x4, 4x6) in a total of 135/6 that seemed inadequate when his counterpart KL Rahul struck his second fifty of the season (68 — 61b, 8x4) to almost ease the hosts to the target. Until, of course, a manic final over bowled by seasoned seamer Mohit Sharma with 12 runs to get. With 10 to get off the last five balls, Rahul and Marcus Stoinis were caught on the boundary off successive deliveries. Ayush Badoni and Deepak Hooda made it four wickets off four balls, both run out going for a non-existent second run. Down and out, Titans had sealed it with a ball to spare as LSG were restricted to 128/7.
It had all been about somehow finding boundaries. There were none after Krunal Pandya hit Rahul Tewatia for a six in the 13th over. Even when Nicholas Pooran was out, making it 110/3 in the 17th over, LSG didn’t seem headed for trouble. But Rahul couldn’t find a single big hit and Titans tightened things up on the field. Having reached 48 runs in 33 balls, Rahul could only score 20 off his last 28 deliveries.
It was not a game for the finishers. The Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium can help produce one for the batters if a red soil pitch is picked. It was more of the darker soil, one used by LSG to snare Sunrisers Hyderabad. In came seasoned leg-spinner Amit Mishra with Mark Wood sitting out. For GT, there was no Alzarri Joseph and instead young Afghan spinner Noor Ahmad, virtually a left-arm version of Rashid Khan, impressed (4-0-18-2) in his second outing.
It was a day for the starters. And Wriddhiman Saha, whose cricket carries an old-school charm. His brilliant wicket-keeping apart, his batting rarely suggests the forced aspects of T20 cricket. No power-hitting or chasing runs 360 degrees. It is simply trusting one’s skills, and an obedient wrist. A slow pitch for Saha is par for the course as muscling it is not his game.
There were shots that raced between point and cover, and a pull against Avesh Khan to the midwicket boundary as well. Playing his 150th IPL game, the 38-year-old's right elbow protested and needed the physio’s attention, but Hardik, coming in at No 3 to set whatever tempo he could, let Saha lead the way as he settled down.
They had to deal with a brilliant early spell by Krunal Pandya, whose spell was done in the 11th over with 13 dot balls — Rashid Khan too was bowled out in the 11th over by GT. Saha and Hardik dealt with shots through the ground, until the former chipped it to midwicket after the Krunal delivery gripped on the surface and turned.
For Hardik, it seemed almost a silent cry to set himself free until the 18th over by Ravi Bishnoi. Hardik’s 4-6-6 sent that over for 19 runs, though the total seemed within LSG’s grasp.
Rahul played out a first-over maiden from Mohammed Shami, but made up by hitting the bowler past midwicket, long-off and point for fours in his next over. Kyle Mayers (24 – 19b) played another steady hand in their 55-run opening stand, while Krunal (23) added 51 with Rahul.
It all seemed smooth sailing until the capitulation by Rahul and LSG in the end.
