Hardik Pandya‘s Gujarat Titans (GT) recorded a stunning come-from-behind victory against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to defend their total of 135 runs and win by 7 runs in Lucknow.
Hardik Pandya was excellent as a captain in his bowling changes, his field placements, and especially his choosing the bowlers for the last four overs of LSG’s chase.
LSG got off to a good start with 53/0 at the end of the powerplay, and that was despite KL Rahul playing the first-over maiden from Mohammed Shami. However, Kyle Mayers‘ wicket after the powerplay brought a slowdown, one from which LSG could never recover.
They hit only two sixes in their entire innings and the last four of their innings came in the 11th over!
Krunal Pandya displayed his all-round goods. First, he returned with figures of 2/16 in his 4 overs and then scored a run-a-ball 23 forming a crucial partnership with KL Rahul which looked like it would take LSG home. However, it didn’t and they lost a cluster of wickets in the last over, failing to find the big hits and not being able to convert their ones into twos.
Meanwhile, during the game, there was some brotherly banter from Hardik Pandya toward elder brother Krunal. When Krunal came to bat in LSG’s innings, Hardik Pandya cross him and muttered some words. The younger Pandya sledged Krunal in order to get some reaction, but Krunal remained focused and didn’t look back at Hardik who was smiling and calmly proceeded toward the pitch.
The video of this brotherly banter between Hardik Pandya and Krunal has gone viral:
Bromance ❌
Bhai-valry ✅The battle of the Pandyas is 🔛 😅#IPLonJioCinema #TATAIPL #LSGvGT #IPL2023 | @hardikpandya7 @krunalpandya24 pic.twitter.com/z4MCSt9DGD
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) April 22, 2023
After this shocking loss, LSG captain KL Rahul said that he couldn’t believe what and how it happened, and lamented not playing risky shots in the middle-overs.
KL Rahul said: “I don’t know how it happened, but it has happened. I can’t put a finger on where it went wrong, but we lost 2 points today, this is cricket. I thought we were brilliant with the ball, 135 was 10 runs under par, the bowling was exceptional, we started well with the bat, but these things happen, we’ll have to take it on the chin. But still a long way to go, 8 points off 7 games, we were on the wrong side of the result today.
“We were well ahead in the game and I wasn’t really trying to bat deep, I still wanted to play my shots, take on the bowlers, but they bowled well in that 2-3 over period, by Noor and Jayant, we perhaps should have taken a few more chances with wickets in hand, they bowled decently, but I think we missed out on some boundary opportunities, the pressure got to us in the last 3-4 overs, we played well until then. They did bowl well though.”
