MUMBAI: Gujarat Titans chased down 159 in 19.4 overs against Lucknow Super Giants to seal five-wicket win in match 4 of the Indian Premier League. Here are major highlights from the match:
1) ‘Sizzling’ Shami: Mohammad Shami is a delight to watch for viewers and a menace for batsmen when he is in his element. In his opening spell, he jagged the ball around prodigiously and completely decimated Lucknow’s top-order. He bowled a terrific outswinger and claimed the wicket of Lucknow’s captain KL Rahul on the first ball of the match. The wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock was cleaned up by a searing in-dipper and Manish Pandey too was bowled by a deceptive inswinger. It was a treat to watch Shami bowl with such control and skill.
He would have also snared Ayush Badoni, when he was batting at 40, but Lockie Ferguson grassed a simple catch at deep point.
2) Gill’s gyration: Shubman Gill displayed his supreme athleticism by pulling off an oustanding catch. In the fourth over of the match, Evin Lewis miscued a pull off Varun Aaron. Gill, who was standing at midwicket, ran backwards rapidly and dived at the right moment to pocked a catch. This will end up as one of the best catches, if not the best, of the tournament.
3) Turbocharged ‘Hooda’ and blistering Badoni: Lucknow were tottering at 29-4 when Badoni joined Deepak Hooda at the crease. Both were tad catious early on to prevent Gujarat bowlers from making further inroads. Later, Hooda cut loose by smacking Hardik Pandya for three boundaries. He also clouted Aaron for a six off a pull and tonked a six off leg-spinner Rashid Khan over midwicket.
Badoni was happy to play second fiddle to Hooda and was subdued in the first half of his innings. In fact, he scored only 11 runs off the first 20 balls he faced. But after Hooda fell to Rashid in 16th over, he went hammer and tongs. He was unruffled under pressure and played his shots with self-assured aplomb. He brought up his fifty by bludgeoning Ferguson for a huge six over deep square-leg.
In the end, their fifties helped Lucknow reach 158-6 in 20 overs.
4) Chameera’s chutzpah: Lucknow needed a couple of quick wickets in the Powerplay to stand a chance to win the match. Dushmantha Chameera stepped up and sent out a bracing spell. He dismissed Shubman Gill for a duck in the first over and then speared in a cracking yorker to clean up Vijay Shankar in his next over. His spell gave Lucknow the much-needed impetus.
5) Pandya vs Pandya: Though Gujarat Totans’ skipper Hardik scored 33 off 28 balls, which included a six off Hooda, his brother Krunal Pandya got the better of him. Hardik tried to launch his elder brother, who is a left-arm spinner, for a six but the ball dipped, turned and took an outside edge of his bat. Manish Pandey at deep extra-cover took an easy catch. Hardik’s wicket came at a critical juncture as Gujarat were running away with the game at that stage.
Overall, Krunal bowled craftily and conceded only 17 runs in 4 overs.
6) Miller milks, Tewatia thrills: Gujarat could only managed 19 runs between 10 to 15 overs and also lost two wickets. At that stage, they needed 68 runs in 5 overs which looked a stiff task. However, Rahul Tewatia cracked a six off Hooda over midwicket to open the floodgates. In the next two overs, Gujarat mustered 39 runs as Tewatia went berserk. Miller was dismissed for 30 but not before cobbling together a partnership of 60 runs with Tewatia for the fifth wicket. Tewatia, however, remained unbeaten at 40 off just 24 balls. Abhinav Manohar unfurled a breezy cameo 15* off 7 balls) at the end to take Gujarat to victory.