IPL 2023: Lucknow, KL Rahul succumb to nerves and Gujarat’s bowling masterclass in a low-scoring thriller

A seasoned international pacer and another making an IPL comeback via the net bowler route following back surgery fashioned a win for defending champions Gujarat Titans in a low-scoring game with its share of tws and turns.
The slow wicket at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow gave the bowlers a chance through the game. Yet the dice was loaded against Gujarat Titans with the home team Lucknow Super Giants needing just 23 from 18 balls with seven wickets in hand and a well-set KL Rahul on 64 off 55 balls.
At that point, Lucknow would have felt they had the game in the bag but three overs of high-quality fast bowling, two from Mohit Sharma, on the comeback trail, and one from Test veteran Mohammed Shami, turned the match on its head. A combination of slower balls bowled into the pitch, deliveries tailing late into the batsmen, slow bouncers and yorkers got the job done as Rahul, till then a contender for the man of the match, seemed to freeze when it mattered most.

A monumental turnaround 🤯🤯@gujarat_titans clinch a narrow 7-run victory to get back to winning ways 🙌
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— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 22, 2023
Sharma conceded just six runs in the 18th over of the innings. In the next, Shami gave away just 5. In the last over, Sharma used the slower ball to have Rahul and big-hitter Marcus Stoinis caught in the deep. Two run-outs added to Lucknow’s misery. Things were happening so fast in the middle that Lucknow’s think tank will need a while to figure out how they messed up the chase.
Shami bowled the penultimate over of the innings. Because of the faster pace at which he bowls, there is a danger of Shami getting smashed to the stands if he gets his line or length wrong. But Rahul, seemingly too eager to finish the game, failed to connect in four of the balls he faced. He even missed a full toss as he swung wildly while losing his shape. At one point, after another swing and a miss, he kicked the ground in anger.
After timing the ball well on the sluggish pitch, Rahul had suddenly gone into a shell. He went 28 balls without a boundary before being dismissed. Lucknow didn’t score a boundary in the last 46 balls of their innings.

In the air and taken 🔥🔥
Some late trouble in the chase for #LSG as Nicholas Pooran departs!
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Spinners Noor Ahmad and Jayant Yadav, the Impact Player, too didn’t give too many loose balls during a combined four-over spell when Krunal Pandya (23 off 23 balls) and the dangerous Nicholas Pooran were dismissed — both guilty of rushing into their shots in search of a boundary.
But with Rahul at the crease, it should have still been a panic-free chase. The Lucknow captain, often criticised for his middling strike rate, seemed to have gauged the conditions well.
At two points during a tricky chase, Rahul sensed the need to cut loose. Shami started off with a maiden to Rahul. Gujarat were defending just 135 but there would be no easy boundaries because of the nature of the wicket. It is not good news for batsmen in any format if Shami finds his bowling rhythm straightaway.

STUMPED!
Noor Ahmad breaks the 5️⃣0️⃣-run stand with a wonderful delivery 👌👌
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— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 22, 2023
In Shami’s second over Rahul found three boundaries to release the pressure value. One of Rahul’s boundaries was an inner edge but showing intent was the intention. When another potential-match winner was brought on in the form of spin wizard Rashid Khan, Rahul again attacked. Rashid was greeted with two pull shots that went for 4s.
But at some point, Rahul lost his fluency and ended up muddling the chase.
Both teams were made to work hard for their runs. This wasn’t a hit-trough-the-line wicket on which modern batsmen excel.

Another captain’s knock in the #LSGvGT clash 🙌
It’s @klrahul this time who reaches his FIFTY 👌👌@LucknowIPL cruising in the chase!
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— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 22, 2023
Saha, Hardik find a way
Gujarat batsmen struggled when they tried to chip over the in-field. The young Shubman Gill and his fellow opener, the experienced Wridhimann Saha, came down the track but were foxed innocuous deliveries from spinners which turned more than they expected and were caught at long off and long on respectively.
Saha got out at the wrong time. He had done the hard work and was approaching his fifty, which would have been his first of the season. Saha mostly created room on the off-side to hit boundaries and used his feet and wrs to manoeuvre the ball and played late. He went down the track to leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi’s first ball of the match and then cut the next delivery to find fours off consecutive balls. He went inside out against Krunal and pulled fast bowler Avesh Khan.

A valuable partnership in the works 👌👌
Captain @hardikpandya7 & @Wriddhipops guide @gujarat_titans to 71/1 at the halfway stage 💪
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— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 22, 2023
Captain Hardik Pandya, one of the cleanest hitters, bided his time after he struggled with his timing early on. He didn’t hit a boundary in the first 17 balls he faced before he capitalised on the width Bishnoi offered to find a four and a six in the ninth over of the innings. At the halfway stage Gujarat were 71 for 1.
Aggression from the captain Hardik in the 18th over of the innings gave the innings an impetus and again Bishnoi was targetted. A 4, 6 and 6 resulted in 19 runs.
Gujarat’s decision to make David Miller, a world-class T20 batsman, bat as low as No.6 in the hope that he would provide the acceleration didn’t work. Miller walked in after the 15th over with the score reading 91 for 4. The two batsmen above him Abhinav Manohar and Vijay Shankar didn’t get a hang of the wicket and were dismissed cheaply. Miller, like most other Gujarat batsmen, struggled for timing and made just 6 off 12 deliveries without a boundary.
But their battling struggles were no longer the story as Shami and Sharma pulled off a tense win with a masterclass on how to bowl on a slow wicket.