Super Giants hand Titans the victory

Lucknow, April 22

Skipper KL Rahul’s baffling batting approach handed defending champions Gujarat Titans a win as they beat Lucknow Super Giants by seven runs in a low-scoring IPL thriller here today.

Chasing a target of 136 on a sluggish pitch, Lucknow were cruising along at 105/1 after 14 overs with 31 needed off 36 deliveries but ended at 128/7 in 20 overs.

Veteran Mohit Sharma (2/17) was defending only 12 in the final over. He first removed Rahul (68 off 61 balls) and kept hitting the blockhole length to concede only five runs in the end as three wickets fell in the process.

It seems Rahul was too casual with his batting. He got his 50 off 33 balls and then consumed 28 deliveries for another 18 runs. There were two 50-plus stands with Kyle Mayers (24 off 19 balls) and Krunal Pandya (23 off 23 balls) but at the end of the day anyone would agree that 136 was difficult to defend.

Left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad bowled two brilliant overs to return with figures of 4-0-18-2, while Mohammed Shami conceded just five in the penultimate over, leaving Mohit with a tricky task in the end. Lucknow lost the game in the last five overs, with Noor triggering the turnaround by keeping Rahul in check.

Brief scores: GT: 135/6 (Hardik 66, Saha 47; Krunal 2/16); LSG: 128/7 (Rahul 68, Mayers 24; Rashid 1/33, Mohit 2/17).