Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) suffered a heartbreaking defeat against Gujarat Titans (GT) in the 30th match of IPL 2023 as they failed to chase down the target of 135 runs at their home ground.
Lucknow skipper KL Rahul, who scoring a 50-ball 66, was left stunned as his team lost four wickets in the last over, falling short by seven runs. Mohit Sharma took two wickets while the other two were run-outs, resulting in a total meltdown for Lucknow. Rahul was the first to go in the over, followed by Marcus Stoinis, Ayush Badoni, and Deepak Hooda.
“I don’t know how it happened, but it has happened. I can’t put a finger on where it went wrong, but we lost 2 points today, this is cricket. I thought we were brilliant with the ball, 135 was 10 runs under par, the bowling was exceptional, we started well with the bat, but these things happen, we’ll have to take it on the chin. But still a long way to go, 8 points off 7 games, we were on the wrong side of the result today,” Rahul said in the post match interview.
Talking about his batting, he said, “We were well ahead in the game and I wasn’t really trying to bat deep, I still wanted to play my shots, take on the bowlers, but they bowled well in that 2-3 over period, by Noor and Jayant, we perhaps should have taken a few more chances with wickets in hand, they bowled decently, but I think we missed out on some boundary opportunities, the pressure got to us in the last 3-4 overs, we played well until then. They did bowl well though.”
GT batted first on a slow track and posted a competitive total of 135 for six. Titans’ skipper Hardik Pandya played a crucial innings of 66 runs off 50 balls, including four sixes, which proved to be the difference between the two teams. Wriddhiman Saha also made a notable contribution of 47 runs off 37 balls. LSG’s left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya was the pick of the bowlers, taking two wickets for 16 runs, while seamer Stoinis also took two wickets for 20 runs.
