Twitter Reactions: Hardik wins battle of brothers as GT outmuscle LSG in Ahmedabad

Gujarat Titans vs Lucknow Super Giants. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

The 51st match of the Indian Premier League 2023 witnessed a clash between the defending champions Gujarat Titans and the Lucknow Super Giants. It was an interesting matchup as brothers Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya led their respective sides at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. While there was a surety of one Pandya brother winning, it was Hardik who ended up on the winning side

Winning the toss, Lucknow put the hosts to bat first. Gujarat’s start to the innings was terrific, as openers Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill wreaked havoc on the field. Gill had a fun time watching Saha play from the non-striker’s end as the 38-year-old went berserk, hit a majority of runs in the powerplay, and brought up his half-century in just 20 deliveries.

After a magnificent powerplay, which saw the duo putting up 78 runs, they kept the scoreboard ticking and stitched up a humungous 142-run stand before Saha was dismissed in the 13th over, scoring a 43-ball 81. But Gujarat weren’t troubled with the wicket as Shubman Gill, with his 51-ball 94*, then took charge of scoring the runs.

He put up a 42-run stand with skipper Pandya, and finally an unbeaten 43-run stand with David Miller to finish the innings at 227/2. Though Gill fell six runs short of a century, the Titans registered their highest-ever total of the IPL. For the visitors, Mohsin Khan and Avesh Khan picked up one wicket each, and the other six bowlers remained wicketless.

Lucknow started off the chase really well as Quinton de Kock finally played his first game this season, joining Kyle Mayers as the opener. The duo added 72 runs in the powerplay and performed similarly to the hosts, but the first wicket led to the batters losing momentum. After Mayers’ dismissal in the ninth over, Deepak Hooda and Marcus Stoinis failed to put up a show as de Kock kept looking to build a partnership.

After scoring a majority of runs, de Kock departed which drew curtains on LSG’s chase. The wicketkeeper-batter notched up 70 runs in 41 deliveries before being dismissed in the 16th over, and Nicholas Pooran followed him back to the pavilion courtesy of Noor Ahmad. The Afghanistan spinners- Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad were at their best, yet again as they restricted the opposition batters from scoring big.

Ayush Badoni’s cameo of an 11-ball 21 towards the end, as an Impact Player, was of no use for Lucknow as the visitors were way behind the required run rate and they had no chance at winning the game. Skipper Krunal Pandya was dismissed for a duck in the penultimate over as Mohit Sharma finished with a four-wicket haul, registering numbers of 4/29. LSG closed their innings at 171/7 as Gujarat won the game by 56 runs.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: