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. He played a decent inning of 23 in 23 balls.
IPL 2023: WATCH- Hardik Pandya sledges brother Krunal during LSG vs GT match in Lucknow
However, the GT bowlers kept building the pressure on a pitch that got slower and more difficult to bat on. And that’s when the LSG team panicked despite needing 30 runs in 30 balls, and the presence of KL Rahul proved to be deterrence.
This was because despite reaching his half-century in 38 balls, he fell in the last over, scoring 68 in 61 balls with just 8 fours to his name.
Mohammad Shami and Mohit Sharma bowled brilliantly in the last two overs with Shami giving away just 5 runs in the 19th over and Mohit then picking two wickets and two batters getting run out in the 20th over.
Apart from Mohit Sharma, young spinner Noor Ahmad was also brilliant with 2/17 in 4 overs.
LSG finished on 128/7 in 20 overs and lost a game that they should’ve won by 7 runs.
The cricket fraternity was left frustrated at the way LSG bottled their chase, but also reserved praise for the GT team and its bowlers on Twitter.
Here are the tweets:
