Young Yash Thakur registered his maiden five-wicket haul to help Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) beat Gujarat Titans (GT) for the first time. LSG won by a comfortable margin of 33 runs to rise to the third position on the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 points table. LSG posted 163/5, their lowest score of the season but GT struggled in the run chase on a pitch where ball did not come easy on the bat. GT suffered their third win on the season and stayed at the seventh position.
LSG's slow start
Earlier, LSG won the toss and opted to bat first. Quinton de Kock got off the mark with a six but fell on the fourth ball to Umesh Yadav. Devdutt Padikkal also fell to Umesh in the powerplay overs for a single-digit score. KL Rahul tried to accelerate and hit Johnson for two fours. After powerplay overs, LSG were 47/2. In the middle overs, Rahul and Marcus Stoinis could not accelerate. In the 13th over, Darshan Nalkande ended Rahul's stay at the crease. The skipper scored 33 runs from 31 balls.
Pooran, Badoni finish big
Stoinis' catch was dropped by Rashid Khan in the 14th over. He smashed two sixes off Nalkande. In the same over, he lost his wicket as well. The Australian scored 58 runs from 43 balls including four fours and a couple of sixes. After a couple of quiet overs, Nicholas Pooran hit a six off Mohit Sharma. In the same over, Ayush Badoni hit a couple of boundaries. In the penultimate over, Badoni fell to Rashid in an attempt to slogsweep. He contributed with an 11-ball 20. Pooran hit a couple of sixes to help LSG post 163/5. He remained unbeaten for 22-ball 32.
Productive powerplay overs
GT's run chase got off to an ideal start. Sai Sudharsan went after pace sensation Mayank Yadav hitting him for two fours. Gill hit a boundary as well to finish the over. Left-arm spinner M.Siddharth struggled and bowled three no balls in an over. Thakur was introduced in the sixth over. On the last ball of the over, Thakur bowled a cross-seam full delivery that Shubman Gill missed and got bowled. GT were 54/1 after powerplay overs.
Krunal spins a web
In the eighth over, Ravi Bishnoi took an absolute screamer to dismiss Kane Williamson off his bowling. Krunal Pandya in the next over struck twice to push GT on the back foot. Sudharsan departed for a 23-ball 31 whereas on-debut Sharath BR went back to the dressing room for a single-digit score. GT struggled in the middle overs. Nalkande hit a six and in the next over became Krunal's third victim of the evening. The left-arm spinner conceded just 11 runs from his quota of four overs.
Thakur creates history
Thakur came back into the attack and struck twice to dismiss Vijay Shankar and Rashid. Umesh went for a slog and lost his wicket to Naveen-ul-Haq. Tewatia tried to revive the run chase but his 25-ball 30 wasn't enough. In the penultiamte over, Thakur dismissed Tewatia and Noor Ahmad to complete his fifer. GT were bowled out for 130 and lost the match by 33 runs.
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