Picture Credit: IPL
The Monday evening saw the two new teams of the Indian Premier League (IPL) taking on each other at the Wankhede Stadium. And Gujarat Titans could not have imagined a better start than what they got. Mohammed Shami got the opposition captain, KL Rahul, on the very first ball of the innings with a pure jaffa.
Shami bowled a peach of a delivery to induce an outside edge from KL Rahul and get him out caught behind. Although it looked out to the naked eye, the on-field umpire did not agree with the Titans' appeal. But Hardik Pandya decided to refer the decision to the third umpire, and the Gujarat captain got it absolutely right.
Watch Rahul's dismissal here:
Shami rattles through LSG's top order
After getting the LSG captain for a golden duck, Shami continued troubling the LSG batters with his line and lengths. Shortly after dismissing Rahul, Shami also removed LSG's second opener, Quinton de Kock. It was another gem of a delivery from Shami to leave de Kock surprised. The right-arm quick cleaned up the left-handed batter with a good length delivery.
Seeing Shami spitting venom, Gujarat Titans' captain Hardik Pandya called him for another over inside the powerplay and the veteran pacer did not disappoint his captain at all. Shami gave GT another breakthrough as he bowled Manish Pandey with another length delivery. Pandey failed to connect his bat with the ball and the ball sneaked through his defense.
As a result of Shami's vicious spell, Gujarat were able to reduce Lucknow to 32/4. Apart from Shami, Varun Aaron also produced a wicket for GT. However, Shubman Gill can claim that wicket against his name as it was him who ran almost 60 yards to garb one of the finest catches of the tournament.