On April 22, the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Gujarat Titans (GT) squared off in Match 30 of the Indian Premier League 2023 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. At the toss, GT skipper Hardik Pandya made the right call by choosing to bat first. Gujarat’s star opener, Shubman Gill, was out for a duck in the second over of the innings, appearing to have backfired on the decision.
Although Shubman Gill attempted to hit Krunal Pandya square in the face, the ball wound up falling straight down Ravi Bishnoi’s throat at long-off.
Wriddhiman Saha took it upon himself to rescue his side after losing his teammate early. After a few uneventful overs, he steered a ball towards the third man to record the innings’ opening boundary against Naveen-ul-Haq. To grab his second boundary, the 38-year-old hit a magnificent inside-out stroke against Pandya.
Further hitting back-to-back boundaries off Ravi Bishnoi, the wicketkeeper batsman helped GT end their powerplay on a high, as they were 40/1 after six overs.
As the pair finished their 50-run stand off 43 balls, Hardik Pandya was second fiddle to Wriddhiman Saha while the latter was dishing out the boundaries. Wriddhiman Saha chose to boost the ante in the 11th over and try to go big against Krunal Pandya after reaching 71 in ten overs. He misjudged his timing, however, and was ultimately caught at long-on by Deepak Hooda, giving Krunal Pandya his second wicket.
The Gujarat Titans’ final score was 135/6.
The GT opener, who scored 47 off 37 balls with the help of six boundaries, was dismissed before reaching a well-deserving half-century. For the second wicket, Saha and Pandya contributed 68 runs off 55 balls. After being dismissed, Hardik Pandya continued the inning with a 66-run inning off 50 balls, smashing two fours and four sixes. For the fifth wicket, Pandya and David Miller needed just 26 balls to put up 40 runs.
GT completed their innings with 135/6 in the stipulated 20 overs, thanks to their effort. The bowlers of choice for LSG were Marcus Stoinis (2/20 in three overs) and Krunal Pandya (2/16).
India
