Match Details
Earlier, Hardik Pandya of Gujarat Titans won the toss and opted to bowl first. KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock opened for Lucknow Super Giants. Mohammed Shami with the new ball changed the complexion of the match completely as he bowled a brilliant outswinger first up to catch the outside edge of KL Rahul’s bat for a golden duck which was confirmed then by a brilliant review by Hardik. Shami didn’t stop here as he got through the defenses off Quinton de Kock (7 off 9) next up. Shubman Gill, then probably took a catch of the tournament to send back Evin Lewis (10 off 9) back to the dugout. Manish Pandey (6 off 5) too couldn’t handle the fiery Shami as he succumbed to become his third victim.
GT would have thought that they could wrap up the things quickly but they were wrong. Deepak Hooda and young Ayush Badoni held both the ends with their resilient batting. First they rebuilt the innings through good running between the wickets and later they changed their gears. Hooda first and then deep in the innings Badoni took over. Hooda smashed spin wizard Rashid Khan and others to bring up his fifty. A well-played fifty (55 off 41) only came to an end when Rashid got him dead plumb which was then confirmed through a review. Before the dismissal, these two added 93-runs for the fifth wicket. Krunal Pandya then joined hands with Badoni to add a few more crucial runs for the team. They took on Shami and Varun Aaron in the slog overs to get their team past the 150. Badoni (54 off 41) on his debut appearance in IPL contributed with a crucial fifty. He was the sixth batter to go as he miscued one straight up in the air. Krunal (21 off 13) and Chameera (1 off1), made them post a respectable score on the board. They posted 158/6 in their 20–overs.
Mohammed Shami was the pick of the bowlers with figures off 4-0-25-3 (It's the first time that Shami has taken three wickets in the powerplay) while Varun Aaron took a couple of wickets but it cost him 45-runs. Rashid took a wicket and was economical too. Lockie Ferguson and Hardik Pandya who bowled after a few months didn’t have any luck in terms of wickets.
Chasing a decent total of 159-runs, Gujarat Titans too didn’t start well. Dushmantha Chameera was too good for Shubman Gill (0 off 3) and Vijay Shankar (4 off 6). Gill was trying a slog early on but Vijay got a proper pacey yorker. Then Matthew Wade and skipper Hardik Pandya settled the nerves as these stitched together a partnership of 57-runs for the third wicket. Hardik (33 off 28) was striking them right from the middle of the bat before miscuing a slog in his brother Krunal’s over.
Later, Deepak Hooda made Wade (30 off 29) go across the line and pay the price for it. Hooda and Krunal were doing the job well for their side in the middle overs. But two southpaws, David Miller and Rahul Tewatia joined hands together and started to take on the spinners. They first damaged Hooda’s figures and then went on to smash Ravi Bishnoi all around the park. They put one exactly 50-runs for the fifth wicket before Miller (30 off 21) slashed one to Rahul at extra-cover who juggled a bit to take the catch. Then the promising Karnataka domestic player Abhinav Manohar struck some crucial boundaries alongside Tewatia. With needing 11-runs to win from the last over, Abhinav Manohar (15 off 7) took on Avesh Khan to get close to the target. Tewatia (40 off 24) finished the match with a cracking cover drive. They chased down the target with a couple of balls remaining.
Dushmantha Chameera was brilliant with the ball as he took 2-wikets for 22-runs in his 3-overs. But he didn't get the fourth over which might be the difference. Have seen KL struggling to make bold decisions in the middle overs. Krunal Pandya Bowled well and took a wicket for just 17-runs in his 4-overs. Avesh Khan got a wicket to his name but couldn't stop GT from scoring required 11-runs in the final over. Deepak Hooda though got Wade, was taken to the cleaners by Rahul Tewatia and David Miller.