It was a dramatic match. From the first inning’s 15 overs to the next inning’s 15 overs, the match was equally balanced. Both teams played their first ever match in IPL in which Gujarat Titans defeated Lucknow by five wickets.
The hero of this victory was Rahul Tewatia who came late to the party but had a fair share in the victory. At one point, Lucknow Super Giants had the game in their control, but Tewatia played a tremendous innings to snatch the game away in a couple of overs bowled by spinners. Gujarat Titans looked weak in batting line-up as they don’t have depth but today it was their day and dew played a big part in the victory.
Earlier, batting first, Lucknow Supergiants scored 158 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. They had the worst start they could have imagined in their first ever match in the IPL 2022. KL Rahul was sent back to pavilion on the first ball of the match. Next batsmen De Kock, Lewis and Manish, all appeared unresponsive in front of sensational Shami who took 3 wickets in the first powerplay.
Deepak Hooda 55 (41) and Ayush Badoni scored 54(41) allowed Lucknow Super Giants to give a fightback. Both of them took the innings when Lucknow Supergiants were struggling for the loss of 4 wickets for 29 runs. Both the batsmen added 87 runs. Apart from these two, no other batsman was successful in scoring runs.
Captain KL Rahul 0(1) Quinton de Kock 9(7) and Manish Pandey 6(5) could not do any wonders. Mohammed Shami was the most successful bowler for Gujarat, he took 3 wickets for just 25 runs, apart from this Varun Aaron took two wickets.
IPL 2022 Stats | Points Table, Highest score, Highest wicket taker
After this, Gujarat Titans, while chasing the target, did not have a good start and Lucknow bowler Dushmanta Chamira dismissed Shubman Gill and Vijay Shankar for 15 runs.
This was followed by a 57-run partnership between Matthew Wade 30(29) and Hardik Pandya 33(28), although both were dismissed soon after. From here David Miller 30 (21) and Rahul Tewatia took the innings forward. Tewatia remained unbeaten on 40 runs. Apart from Dushmanta Chamira, Avesh Khan got one wicket from Lucknow.
Lucknow Super Giants 158-6 (20 overs)
Batting: Deepak Hooda 55(41), Ayush Badoni 54(41) Bowling: Shami 3/25, Aaron 2/45
Gujarat Titans 161-5 (19.4 overs)
Batting: Rahul Tewatia 40(24) Hardik Pandya (c) 33 (28)
Bowling: Dushmantha Chameera 2/22, Kunal Pandya 1/17
Gujarat Titans won by 5 wickets
This was the 4th match of the IPL 2022 and indeed a thriller one. As the trend has been, some youngsters showed their talent on a big stage.