In defence of a below-par total of 158 against Gujarat Titans in both the teams’ first IPL game, Lucknow Super Giants needed a strong start. They got it from Sri Lanka fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera who dismissed Shubman Gill and Vijay Shankar to dent the Titans early on with his seething pace.
On the third ball of Titans’ chase, Gill danced down the track to hit out Chameera, but he had little chance of playing that shot, despite his elegance and class, against the high speeds and bounce of the Sri Lankan seamer. Gill mistimed his stroke and was caught just outside the 30-yard circle.
On the first ball of his next over, Chameera castled out Vijay Shankar with a pin-point off-stump yorker at speed of 145 KPH, to which Shankar had no chance of doing anything but falling forward and yielding to the swing and speeds of Chameera.
However, the lanky pacer had set up Shankar’s dismissal brilliantly: in the three previous balls of the previous over, Chameera had bowled them all short and back of length to Shankar getting the batter on the back foot, and then delivered the sucker punch – a yorker that Shankar had no answers to.
This new ball spell hurt Gujarat’s innings early on in their chase. Chameera got everyone in wow with his simmering pace and high-class accuracy.
Among many, one Harsha Bhogle, renowned cricket commentator and analyst, gave his take on Chameera.
“Not surprised by this searing burst from Chameera. He has been outstanding for a while and was worth a pick earlier too,” Bhogle tweeted.
Not surprised by this searing burst from Chameera. He has been outstanding for a while and was worth a pick earlier too.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 28, 2022
Lucknow had spotted Chameera’s faculties and went after him in the mega-auction; LSG started his bid from his base price of 50 lakh and didn’t relent till they acquired Chameera for 2 crore.
As Bhogle pointed out, Chameera has been brilliant with the ball in recent times: since the start of 2021, he’s the Sri Lankan seamer is the fifth-highest T20I wicket-taker with 31 scalps in 28 matches, while his economy has been brilliant, 7.59.
Despite his early strikes, Lucknow couldn’t defend the total of 158 as 30s from Wade, Miller and Hardik, and 40 from Tewatia helped the Titans eclipse the target.
