TATA IPL 2023: Gujarat Titans vs Lucknow Super Giants… Gujarat Titans defend 135

-as Ahmad, Mohit lead the way

Agame that was very much in Lucknow Super Giants' hands was snatched from them by the combined efforts of Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami. These Gujarat Titans bowlers turned the tables on the hosts when they needed a comfortable 31 to win from 36 balls, with as many as nine wickets left and a well-set KL Rahul in the middle.

The turnaround started with Noor Ahmad picking up two wickets for one run over nine balls; which put the pressure back on Super Giants, as the equation reached 23 off 18. Mohit then sent down a flurry of accurate yorkers and slower balls for six singles, while off 19, and led his team to 53 without loss in the powerplay with Kyle Mayers, it looked like the LSG captain was ready to take on the bowlers on a slow and sluggish pitch. He and Mayers finished the boundaryladen powerplay on such a good score that the asking rate had come down to less-thansix-an-over. Rahul brought up his fifty off 38 balls, stitched a fifty stand with both Mayers and #3 Krunal Pandya, and looked all set to see his side through when they needed 31 from the last six overs. However, the Titans bowlers dried up the boundaries after the 13th over, and took advantage of Super Giants' slowdown to quicks. They bowled three of the first six overs of the game, and Krunal even found success when Shubman Gill came down to attack but handed an easy catch to long-off after the turning ball took a leading edge.

Seeing the lack of pace on the pitch, and knowing they needed someone senior to guide the innings, Hardik Pandya promoted himself to #3. Meanwhile, Wriddhiman Saha went all out in attack, and raced to 34 off 24 to push the score to 40 for 1, which was still Titans' lowest in the powerplay this IPL.

LSG's spinners shows up, kind of Saha kept the tempo up by making room and coming down the pitch often, but he became Krunal's second victim when he

Hardik had struck the only six of the innings when David Miller joined him at 92 for 4 took all the pace off the ball, dismissed Hardik in the last over, and kept Miller to just 6 off 12 balls; which, thankfully for them, didn't prove costly in the end. (ESPNCricinfo)

Scoreboard

Gujarat Titans (20 ovs maximum)

BATTING R B

Wriddhiman Saha † c

Hooda b Pandya 47 37

Shubman Gill c Ravi Bishnoi b Pandya 0 2

Hardik Pandya (c) c

Rahul b Stoinis 66 50

Abhinav Manohar c

Naveen-ul-Haq b Mishra 3 5

Vijay Shankar b Naveen-ul-Haq 10 12

David Miller c Hooda b Stoinis 6 12

Rahul Tewatia not out 2 2

Extras (lb 1) 1

TOTAL 20 Ov (RR: 6.75) 135/6

Shami bowled a tight 19th over for five runs; and when 12 were needed off six, Mohit pretty much shut the game out with the wickets of Rahul and Marcus Stoinis on the second and third balls of the last over.

When 10 were needed off three, Ayush Badoni and Deepak Hooda were run out while attempting risky second runs, and a dot ball sealed the win for Titans.

Titans are on eight points now, like the three teams above them on the IPL points table, and have extended their unbeaten record against Super Giants to 3-0.

More questions on Rahul

When Rahul raced to 30 eventually emerge victorious.

Noor's second spell started the slide with wickets in consecutive overs: when Krunal was stumped while going for a big shot, and when Nicholas Pooran was caught off the leading edge by Hardik Pandya while attempting a big sweep. When it came down to the last three overs, Rahul just couldn't put away Shami and Mohit's accurate deliveries, and holed out, before Stoinis did the same in the last over.

Gujarat Titans' slowest powerplay of IPL 2023

There were early indications that the black soil pitch in Lucknow was going to help spinners a lot more than the failed to clear long-on, and fell for 47 off 37. By then, however, Saha and Hardik had bashed Ravi Bishnoi, Super Giants' best bowler this season, out of the attack. His first two overs went for 25 runs.

Super Giants turned to the experience of Amit Mishra, who sent down slow and loopy deliveries which made scoring even tougher. Abhinav Manohar took him on by targeting the long cover boundary, where Naveen-ulHaq took a stunning diving catch, and Titans had lost wickets in successive overs to be 77 for 3 in the 12th over.

Quiet death overs despite Hardik's fifty in the 15th over, and Titans were in desperate need of runs. Bishnoi and Avesh Khan slowed them down further with tight lines and by taking the pace off; and, curiously, they subbed out Mishra when he had two overs left. It meant Hardik faced Bishnoi in the 18th over, and the Titans captain pulled him for 4, 6 and 6 in a 19-run over that ended a 27-ball boundary drought. The first of those sixes also took Hardik to his first fifty - off 44 balls - of the season, to lift Titans almost single-handedly in the end. Even without Mishra, Super Giants emerged the better side in the last two overs, as Naveen and Stoinis

Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’… Linden sees entertaining opening night

Awhopping ten games were played on Friday night in the mining town of Linden when the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ tournament kicked off there

Playing at the Silvercity Hard Court in Wismar, Gennasyde picked up the first win of the 2023 tournament when they edged Street Light Ballers 1-0 Robin Wren was the marksman in that contest, striking in the 10th minute

Dark Side enjoyed a 4-0 victory over DC Ballers in the following game Nicholas Gentle was on fire with a hat trick in the 9th, 10th and 11th minutes, while Kwesi Quintin registered the Dark Side’s first goal in the 4th minute

A Guinness Goal (which counts as two goals) off the boots of Dellon Reece in the 13th gave Top Strikers the boost they needed in a 3-0 encounter with Aroaima Andrew Rice was the Strikers’ other goal-scorer in the 4th

The game following saw a stalemate between Universal

Ballers and Coomacka at the end of regulation time However, Universal Ballers went on to taste victory via a 1-0 edge from the penalty mark

A tight encounter between YMCA and Presidential eventually saw the former winning 3-2 by way of a Guinness Goal Jamal Bentick handed YMCA the lead in the 2nd, but back-to-back goals from Shemar Caesar (6th) and Maurice McCurdy (12th) put Presidential in the driver’s seat However, Keyshawn Dey netted a Guinness Goal for

YMCA in the nick of time for the victory

Another goal-fest came when the Top Form-Street Warriors encounter ended in a 5-3 win for Street Warriors

For the winners, Janeve Waldron (13th) and Abani Dow (14th) each netted a Guinness Goal to cut the deficit Shelton Whittaker (9th) was the other goal-scorer for Street Ballers Jamil James (2nd, 10th) and Dariel Adolph (11th) were the goal-scorers for Top Form

Another tense game saw Team Good Luck easing past Exodus 1-0 Delano Sulker was the man on target, in the 4th minute, for Team Good Luck’s win

Meanwhile, Street Ballers overcame Golden Stars 3-1 A Guinness Goal off the boots of Roydell Arthur in the 13th minute and another from Shaka Lewis accounted for Street Ballers’ three, while Aqun Chester netted the consolation for Golden Stars in the 11th

The penultimate game of the night saw its regulation time expiring with another stalemate However, when Silver Bullets and One Side FC got to the penalty mark, the former prevailed 3-2

Another drawn game at the end of regulation time followed, although Taliban and High Rollers fought tooth and nail In the end, High Rollers clinched the victory 2-1 in sudden death penalty kicks

The Linden Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ competition has up to $1M in cash and other prizes up for grabs

Did not bat: Rashid Khan,

Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma, Jayant Yadav

Fall of wickets: 1-4

(Shubman Gill, 1.2 ov), 2-72

(Wriddhiman Saha, 10.3 ov), 3-77

(Abhinav Manohar, 11.4 ov), 4-92

(Vijay Shankar, 14.6 ov), 5-132

(Hardik Pandya, 19.2 ov), 6-135

(David Miller, 19.6 ov) •

BOWLING O-M-R-W

Naveen-ul-Haq 4-0-19-1

Krunal Pandya 4-0-16-2

Avesh Khan 3-0-21-0

Ravi Bishnoi 4-0-49-0

Marcus Stoinis 3-0-20-2

Amit Mishra 2-0-9-1

Lucknow Super Giants (T: 136 runs from 20 ovs)

BATTING R B KL Rahul (c) c Yadav b Sharma 68 61

Kyle Mayers b Rashid Khan