Picture Credit: IPL
In a closely fought contest, the Gujarat Titans won their maiden clash of the IPL 2022 season against Lucknow Super Giants. Rahul Tewatia's heroics in the run chase and Abhinav Manohar's 15-run off seven balls helped the Hardik Pandya-led side snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Apart from batters, Md. Shami delivered a crucial performance in the game as he clinched three wickets, including that of KL Rahul on the very first ball of the game.
The game saw some clinical batting performances from both sides. While batting first, Lucknow suffered a massive batting collapse as their first four batters returned to the pavilion before the completion of the fifth over. However, Deepak Hooda (55 off 41) and Ayush Badoni (54 off 41) were the standout batters for Lucknow as they both built an 87-run partnership when the team struggled to find the rhythm in the game.
During the post-match presentation, Lucknow's skipper KL Rahul praised young prodigy Ayush Badoni and rated him as their own 'Baby AB.' The tag was earlier referred to Under 19-star batter Dewal Brevis who rose to fame during the recently concluded U19 World Cup campaign, where his batting style was compared with AB de Villiers.
Speaking of Badoni, his 54-run knock was studded with three sixes and four 4s, and it came at such a juncture where Giants' batters were left clueless against inspirational bowling from Md. Shami, who got some support from Varun Aaron, as well. KL Rahul said, "He has been phenomenal for us. Right from the very first ball, he packs a punch and plays 360 degrees, so happy for him to walk out with us four down, but he did well under pressure and hopefully, he can continue doing that."
Lucknow Super Giants managed to post 158-6 in 20 overs after superb batting performance from the middle-order. In response, collective efforts from Gujarat Titans' batters saw them clinch victory in the last over of the game. Mathew Wade (30 off 29) and Hardik Pandya (33 off 28) were the other notable performers with the bat for the winning side.