The fourth match of the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League happened yesterday evening at the Wankhede Stadium, where the Gujarat Titans trounced the Lucknow Super Giants by five wickets. GT captain Hardik Pandya defeated his LSG rival KL Rahul to win the battle of best friends.
Speaking about the match, the Lucknow Super Giants got off to a horrendous start as the quartet of KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock, Manish Pandey and Evin Lewis was back in the hut before the score even touched 30.
Half-centuries from Deepak Hooda and Ayush Badoni helped LSG post a competitive score against GT. Speaking at the post-match presentation, KL Rahul said the following about Badoni:
“He’s (Badoni) baby AB for us. He has been phenomenal from the first day. For a little boy, he packs a punch and plays 360 degrees, so happy for him as he grabbed the opportunity. He did well under pressure and hopefully, he can continue doing that.”
While Badoni’s performance was a big plus for LSG, they also made the following mistakes which cost them the match:
1. LSG did not bowl out Dushmantha Chameera against GT
Dushmantha Chameera was the best bowler for the Lucknow Super Giants in their match against the Gujarat Titans. However, he only got to bowl three overs, where he picked up two wickets.
He had two overs remaining when there were four overs left in the match, but captain KL Rahul went with Ravi Bishnoi, who gave away 17 runs.
2. Not giving Dushmantha Chameera an extra over in the powerplay
Mohammed Shami bowled three overs for GT in the powerplay and broke the back of LSG team with three wickets. He dismissed Manish Pandey in his fourth over to leave Lucknow reeling at 29/4.
Chameera picked up two wickets in two overs, but he did not get another over. One more wicket in the powerplay could have helped Lucknow a lot.
