Gujarat Titans return back to winning ways defeating Lucknow Super Giants in a low scoring thriller at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. This is the first time in IPL 2023, Gujarat Titans have won a game defending a score, which will boost their confidence. The game looked far from their reach at one point of time but they did well enough to return and snatch the victory from the jaws of defeat. KL Rahul, who was set and batting well, got sucked into the lack of momentum and could not help his team over the finishing line. With this win, Gujarat Titans also reach the 8-point mark playing a game less than Lucknow Super Giants. 'What a Comeback!' Netizens Shower Praise on Mohit Sharma After His Final-Over Heroics in GT's Seven-Run Win Over LSG in IPL 2023.

The Ekana Stadium pitch is well reputed to be slow and assisting the spinners and with it being a day game, it had chances to be slower. Hardik Pandya won the toss and expectedly elected to bat first. It was a struggle throughout as Krunal Pandya bowled a brilliant spell but Hardik hung on at one end and capitalised on the opportunities given by Ravi Bishnoi who had a bad day. Other batters could not get going and GT could only accumulate 135 runs at the end of their innings.

During the chase, LSG were off to a flying start, with KL Rahul play strokes all around the dominating the powerplay and Kyle Mayers assisting him well. Even Rashid Khan looked ineffective. But things started to change after the powerplay and after Noor Ahmed joined the attack, LSG lost all the sting in their moment and the match got stuck, It became really tight when Nicholas Pooran lost his wicket. Gradually the stranglehold got tighter and Mohit Sharma bowled a brilliant final over to restrict LSG 7 runs before target.

LSG vs GT Stat Highlights

# Noor Ahmed handed debut

# 150th IPL match for Wriddhiman Saha.

# Lowest powerplay score for GT this season (40/1).

# KL Rahul gets to 7,000 T20 runs.

# KL Rahul has second highest average to get to 7,000 T20 runs.

#  Second time in his IPL career that Rashid Khan has been bowled out by the 11th over.

# KL Rahul now has third highest 50+ scores as opener in IPL (35).

# KL Rahul became fastest to 7000 runs in T20s in terms of innings (197).

# KL Rahul has now faced 50+ deliveries the most in IPL since 2020 (22).

# KL Rahul now has 3rd slowest innings by strike rate in IPL after facing minimum 60 balls (111.48).

# Mohit Sharma now joins Ravindra Jadeja as players to more than 1 man of the match in IPL 2023.

# Gujarat Titans second team in IPL to take 4 wickets in 4 balls in IPL.

# Marcus Stoinis completes 100 wickets in T20s. Fans React With Funny Memes After KL Rahul Plays Out Maiden First Over for Second Consecutive Time During LSG vs GT IPL 2023 Match.

A game that had everything in it starting from classy strokes, touch play, crafty spin bowling, lion hearted death bowling and a thrilling end saw Gujarat Titans come out on the winning side. For them, they have to work on increasing the batting power to capitalise on the middle overs. While for LSG, KL Rahul and his team has to think how slow is too slow? They have to pace their innings much better they did this game and return stronger.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 22, 2023 08:43 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).