Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler added 86 runs for the second wicket to lead the Gujarat Titans to an impressively one-sided victory by seven wickets in their Tata IPL match against the Lucknow Super Giants at the Bharat Ratna Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Sunday afternoon.
Requiring just 165 for victory, the Titans lost prolific opener Sai Sudharsan for 15 at the start of the sixth over, but captain Gill (56) and former England captain Buttler (60 from 37 balls) flourished without any meaningful run-rate pressure and made light work of the chase, winning with eight balls to spare.
Gujarat’s bowlers, however, were at least equally responsible for the victory if not more so. Indian regular, Mohammad Siraj, conceded just 19 runs from his four overs, three of which came in the Power Play, and picked up the vital wicket of Rishabh Pant (18) with a smart slower ball driven to mid off.
Fellow fast bowler Askok Sharma (4-0-32-2) was frequently too quick for LSG’s middle order, and legendary Afghan wrist spinner, Rashid Khan, continued his return to form after a recent dip with 4-0-25-0. But the pick of the attack was tall seamer Prasidh Krishna, who used the short ball to great effect on his way to 4-28, including the prized wicket of Nicholas Pooran (19), who splaffed a slower ball bouncer to mid off.
Aiden Markram’s top score of 30 from 21 balls ended with a miscued pull against Krishna to deep midwicket.
South Africa’s George Linde made his IPL debut as an ‘Impact Substitute’, collecting three fours in his 16 from 10 balls, but LSG’s total of 164 for eight always looked at least 20 runs short of being competitive.
Gill gloved a bouncer from Prince Yadav (4-0-31-1) to ‘keeper Pant and Buttler sliced a drive against veteran Mohammad Shami (4-0-36-1) to long off, where Markram held a leaping catch, which briefly threatened a wobble but Washington Sundar (21*) and Rahul Tewatia (10*) were in no mood to let a straightforward victory slip from their grasp.
Both teams have now won two and lost two of their four matches and remain in fifth and sixth place on the log with four points, four behind leaders Rajasthan Royals and three behind second-placed Punjab Kings.
LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS: Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant (captain/wkt), Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Mohammed Shami, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Prince Yadav
GUJARAT TITANS: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (captain), Jos Buttler (wkt), Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Ashok Sharma, Prasidh Krishna