Hardik Pandya was a proud captain of Gujarat Titans (GT) after his side managed to defeat Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in a close IPL 2023 encounter at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on April 22, Saturday.
Set 136 runs to win, the LSG team bottled the chase brilliantly despite a good start from Kyle Mayers (24) and Krunal Pandya (23). However, captain KL Rahul played a boring knock of 68 in 61 balls with 8 fours and took the game down to the last over.
In the final two overs, Mohammad Shami and Mohit Sharma each bowled exceptionally well, with Shami allowing only 5 runs in the 19th over and Mohit picking up two wickets and two batters being run out in the 20th over.
Apart from Mohit Sharma, young spinner Noor Ahmad was also brilliant with 2/17 in 4 overs. LSG finished on 128/7 in 20 overs and lost a game that they should’ve won by 7 runs.
After the win, GT captain Hardik Pandya was ecstatic with 2 points and called his side a champion side.
Pandya said: “Credit to the boys. We are a champion side, we won last year. You have to be satisfied with your results. The spirit and the atmosphere changed after getting wickets, that’s a very great feeling. A win like this can boost your confidence. I think the way the wicket was playing, we could have got 10 runs more. There was uncertainty. They bowled well and made our life difficult. Batters couldn’t get rhythm because of the wicket. During the strategic timeout we spoke about the set batter going for it towards the end. We were always chasing them, and never in it.
When they needed 30 runs in 30 balls, I thought they were ahead. But when they required 27 in 4 overs, I thought they were under pressure. That’s where I thought we could be in the game. The way every bowler contributed, as a captain I couldn’t have asked for.”
Pandya reserved special praise for Mohit Sharma who is playing the IPL after a gap of three years and has done incredibly well with the ball for GT.
“The amount of cricket he (Mohit Sharma) has played, I don’t have to interfere. He made my life easy, he backed his plans and executed it. Shami and Mohit were tremendous, special mention to Jayant who was playing after a long time. Noor has some talent as well,” Pandya said.
With this win, GT moved to 4th spot with 4 wins in 6 matches and 8 points, while LSG remained at second place.
Hardik Pandya Leads From The Front With A Sublime Fifty
On a challenging pitch, Hardik Pandya led with the bat, scoring 66 runs in 50 balls with four sixes and two fours, and Wriddhiman Saha added 47 runs as GT recorded 135/6. Marcus Stoinis and Krunal Pandya each took two wickets for LSG.