Saha and Gill’s aggression results in a huge Titans win

Photo of author

By Webdesk


Gujarat titans 227 for 2 (Gill 94*, Saha 81) beat Lucknow Supergiants 171 for 7 (de Kock 70, Mayers 48, Mohit 4-29) by 56 runs

Victory was achieved by Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill who added 142 in 12.1 overs for the first wicket – the highest partnership for Titans. Saha scored 81 from 43 and Gill finished on an unbeaten 94 from 51 to take them to 227 for 2.

In response, Quinton de Kock, playing his first game of the season, and Kyle Mayers gave LSG an 88 start in 8.2 overs. But when Mohit Sharma dismissed Mayers to break that tie, the incoming batters couldn’t keep up with the required pace.

The match was also significant as Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya became only the second set of brothers to captain their respective sides against each other in T20 cricket. The Hussey brothers faced each other twice during the Big Bash League in 2015-2016, when Mike led Sydney Thunder and David Melbourne Stars.

Saha shoots away

With Titans, Saha’s role with bat is to attack in the power play, and he couldn’t have done it better justice. He started with two fours off Mohsin Khan in the opening over. The first had come through an outer edge, but Saha was not bothered by it. In the next over, he took a six and a four from Avesh Khan.

Mohsin got more punishment in the fourth over with Saha hitting two fours and two sixes. By the end of that, the Titans were up to 53; Saha’s contribution was 46.

With a long-on of six over to Yash Thakur, Saha put on his half-century, going just 20 balls in the sixth over. By the middle of the leg, Saha had moved up to 74 on 37, but his innings came to an end when he dragged Avesh Khan to a deep square leg.

Gill takes over

Gill had spent most of the power play watching Saha from the non-striker’s end. He gave up just five balls in the first four overs and was on 9 out of ten at one point. But soon he matched Saha shot by shot and even surpassed him.

It started with a six on Krunal; Deepak Hooda jumped at a long distance and tried to throw it back but failed. Soon after, Gill launched Ravi Bishnoi for two sixes in one over, raising his fifty from 29 balls. There were six sixes but not four in his first 68 runs.

After Saha fell and Gill started to get a little tired in the harsh heat of Ahmedabad, Hardik and David Miller helped out with cameos. Gill had reached 85 when Thakur started the last over of the innings. He hit the first two balls for a six and a two to reach 93 with four to go. But that was followed by a dot and a single. Miller made it to the penultimate ball for a four and took a single from the last, with Gill finishing six, short of what would have been his first IPL hundred.

Mayers, de Kock respond in kind

Mohammed Shami started the Titans defense with a run of four. But in the next three overs, Mayers and de Kock hit nine fours and six. With LSG racing to 50 in four overs, Hardik was forced to introduce both wrist spinners Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad into the power play. Still, there was no reprieve for Titans. The LSG openers hit three fours and a six in the Afghan duo’s first two overs.

Mohit brings Titans back

When Titans were batting, a few slower balls had lodged in the surface. Mohit used the same trick to dismiss Mayers when the batter missed one to deep square leg where Rashid, after running in diagonally right, completed the fly with a slide.

Mayers’ wicket drastically slowed LSG. The next six overs, including the one in which he fell, gave LSG just 33 runs. This left them needing 107 from the last six overs.

De Kock tried to revive the chase with a six off Mohit, but the bowler bounced back sending Marcus Stoinis off with another slower ball. In the next over, Rashid sent back de Kock to effectively end the game. Ayush Badoni tried to narrow the margin of the loss before Mohit dismissed him and Krunal finished 4 for 29.

Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo



Source link

Share via
Copy link