The Indian Premier League 2023 continued its exhilarating action on Saturday, April 22, as Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) hosted Gujarat Titans (GT) in Match 30, at Ekana Stadium, in Lucknow. GT captain Hardik Pandya called it correctly at the toss and elected to bat first.
The decision, however, seemed to have backfired as Gujarat lost their star opener Shubman Gill for a duck in the second over of the innings. Gill tried to smack Krunal Pandya straight down the ground but the ball ended up going straight down the throat of Ravi Bishnoi at long-off.
After losing his partner early, Wriddhiman Saha took the onus upon himself to bail his side out of trouble. After playing a couple of quiet overs, he registered the first boundary of the innings as he guided a ball towards the third man against Naveen-ul-Haq. The 38-year-old further played a majestic inside-out shot against Pandya to get his second boundary.
The wicket-keeper batter further smacked back-to-back boundaries against Ravi Bishnoi to help GT finish their powerplay on a high as they were 40/1 after six overs.
While Saha was dealing in boundaries, Hardik Pandya was playing second fiddle to him as the duo completed their 50-run stand off 43 balls. After reaching 71 in ten overs, Saha decided to up the ante in the 11th over and attempted to go big against Krunal Pandya. However, he failed to get the timing right and ended up getting caught at long-on by Deepak Hooda handing Krunal Pandya his second wicket.
Gujarat Titans finished their innings on 135/6
The GT opener missed out on a well-deserved half-century and departed after scoring 47 off 37 balls with the help of six boundaries. Saha and Pandya added 68 runs for the second wicket off 55 balls. Following his dismissal Hardik Pandya took the innings forward with his 66-run knock off 50 balls smashing two fours and four sixes in his innings. Pandya added 40 runs for the fifth wicket with David Miller off just 26 balls.
Courtesy of their effort, GT finished their innings on 135/6 in their allotted 20 overs. Krunal Pandya (2/16) was the pick of the bowlers for LSG while Marcus Stoinis also picked up 2//20 in three overs.