The 30th match of the IPL 2023 saw Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) hosting the Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on April 22, Saturday.
Hardik Pandya, the GT captain, won the toss and this time, decided to bat first. He led from the front with the bat, scoring 66 in 50 balls with 4 sixes and 2 fours, while Wriddhiman Saha made 47 runs as GT posted 135/6 on a difficult pitch to bat on. For LSG, Krunal Pandya and Marcus Stoinis picked two wickets apiece.
In response, after losing Kyle Mayers for 24 in 19 balls, LSG management promoted Krunal Pandya up the order to no.3 to maintain the left-right batting combination.
As soon as Krunal walked in, Hardik was seen trying to exchange a few words with him before he threw instructions at his teammates pertaining to Krunal's batting and then laughed at his brother. Trying to play those mind games, Hardik was hoping to get some reaction from Krunal. But the elder one remained quite as he adjusted his helmet and gloves before making his way towards the crease.
Check it out here:
Krunal was eventually dismissed for a run-a-ball 23 in Lucknow's chase of 136 and then despite scoring a fifty, KL Rahul perished in the final over with the team needing 12 runs from it, caught by by Jayant Yadav off Mohit Sharma’s bowling, leaving his team in trouble.
Mohit Sharma bowled an excellent 20th over as he defended 12 runs and picked two scalps as LSG finished on 128/7 and lost to GT by 7 runs.
