Fighting knocks from Deepak Hooda and Ayush Badoni guided Lucknow Super Giants to 158/6 in their assigned 20 overs against fellow IPL debutants Gujarat Titans here at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.
Lucknow who were at a spot of bother with 29/4 at one time were powered up by Deepak Hooda (55) and youngster Ayush Badoni who scored 54 on his debut. Mohammad Shami was a man on fire for Gujarat Titans as it was his sensational opening spell that yielded three wickets and left LSG in tatters.
Put in to bat first, Super Giants endured a very poor start as Shami struck with the first ball of the match. Titans pacer bowled a good length delivery, just outside off stump, which nipped away from KL Rahul and got the outside edge of LSG skipper bat to Wade behind the stumps.
In his very next over Shami produced yet another peach of a delivery to dismiss LSG`s other opener, Quinton De Kock. Pacer again bowled a good length, outside off stump delivery which came in with the angle and nipped back after pitching. The ball then went through the bat-pad gap and the stumps were castled of the South African batter.
In the 4th over, Varun Aaron joined the party for Titans as he sent Evin Lewis back into the hut. Bumper from Varun Aaron was hurried up by Lewis, who top-edged the pull, Shubman Gill then ran back from mid-wicket and committed a full-fledged dive to hold onto the sensational catch.
Wickets kept falling for the Uttar Pradesh-based side as Shami bagged his third wicket of the night in the 5th over. This time it was a delivery outside off stump which did the trick for the Indian veteran pacer as the ball nipped back and rattled the stumps of Manish Pandey. Lucknow lost their top-4 inside the powerplay as their score read 32/4 after the first six overs.
Deepak Hooda and Ayush Badoni then started rebuilding the ship for Super Giants as both batters amassed 77 runs in the middle overs with a rate of 8.55 rpo. In the 15th over both batters smashed Titans skipper Hardik Pandya for 19 runs to help Lucknow get back in the game.
With the partnership going strong for LSG, Giants` spinner Rashid Khan removed dangerous-looking Deepak Hooda in the 16th over. Afghanistan bowler trapped Hooda for 55.
Krunal Pandya then joined Badoni on the crease and both batters kept clocking the runs for LSG. Badoni went back to the pavilion in the last over as LSG`s score read 158/6 after the end of the innings.
Brief Scores: Lucknow Super Giants 158/6 (Deepak Hooda 55, Ayush Badoni 54; Mohammad Shami 3-25) vs Gujrat Titans.
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