Nicholas Pooran and Aiden Markram’s attacking knocks overshadowed Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan’s century stand to take Lucknow Super Giants home with a comfortable six-wicket win over Gujarat Titans at the Ekana Cricket Stadium here on Saturday.
Pooran slammed a 34-ball 61 while Markram made 58 and helped the Super Giants complete the 181-run chase with three balls to spare. LSG registered its fourth win to move higher up in the table.
Markram-Pooran show
Markram took on Mohammed Siraj as he drove him through cover in the first over. He went on to take Siraj for 20 runs in his next, with new opening partner Rishabh Pant for company. Markram adeptly made room and went over the infield as LSG ticked off 61 runs in the first six overs.
While the pitch eased a bit under lights, Pant struggled to time the ball. His strained 18-ball 21 ended right after PowerPlay as he top-edged his slog to the man at deep third, making way for Pooran.
Pooran and Markram took on Gujarat’s spinners, including a 24-run over against R Sai Kishore. Three of Pooran’s seven sixes came in that over, forcing Gill to switch back to pace, resulting in Prasidh Krishna removing Makram in the 12th over.
Pooran marched on unfazed, notching up his fifty in 23 balls, before miscuing one off Rashid Khan in the 16th over. Gujarat’s spinners managed to drag the game into the final over, but Ayush Badoni completed formalities with a four and a six to seal two points.
Middle-order woes
The Titans’ middle order failed to follow the tempo Gill and Sudharsan had set — going at 10 runs an over — in the first 12 overs of the innings. Gill, on 60, fell trying to loft a cutter by Avesh Khan while Ravi Bishnoi dismissed a set Sudharsan on 56 and removed Washington Sundar off the last ball of the very next over.
Before that, the duo made the most of fielding restrictions to score 54 in the PowerPlay. Sudharsan began the 120-run stand with a cut for four and Gill followed suit. No swing and slow conditions allowed the batters to play the ball late or come down the track.
The pair cleverly played to the field and kept the scoreboard ticking; in the 58-ball partnership, they only played 16 dots. However, Lucknow controlled the game once their stand broke.
Super Giants only allowed 60 runs off the last eight overs as the pitch slowed once the initial shine wore off. Digvesh Rathi’s infamous signature celebration returned, the bowler gesturing on the ground this time after dismissing Jos Buttler with a carrom ball. Sherfane Rutherford struggled to find an answer to the wide yorker tactic by Avesh and Shardul Thakur, who eventually struck him in front in the last over. Rashid ran a couple of doubles as the Titans touched the 180-run mark. But it was not enough in the end.