Lucknow. After the brilliant performance of the bowlers led by fast bowler Prasidh Krishna (four wickets for 28 runs in four overs) and the amazing batting of captain Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler, Gujarat Titans defeated Lucknow Super Giants by seven wickets in the Indian Premier League T20 match here on Sunday. After restricting the Super Giants to 164 for eight, the Titans easily achieved the target by scoring 165 for three in 18.4 overs and registered their second win in four matches.

Apart from scoring 56 runs in 40 balls with the help of six fours and one six, he also made a partnership of 45 runs in 31 balls with Sai Sudarshan (15) for the first wicket and 84 runs in 58 balls with Jos Buttler (60) for the second wicket. Butler hit 11 fours in his 37-ball innings. Digvesh Rathi, Mohammed Shami and Prince Yadav got one success each for Super Giants. Earlier, Prasidh got good support from Mohammad Siraj (one wicket for 19 runs in four overs) and Ashok Sharma (two wickets for 32 runs in four overs).

Kagiso Rabada also got a breakthrough, but he conceded 54 runs in four overs. Rashid Khan gave 25 runs in four overs. Aiden Markram made the maximum contribution of 30 runs for the Super Giants. Apart from him, no other batsman could reach the 20-run mark. Captain Rishabh Pant (18), Nicholas Pooran (19), Abdul Samad (18) and Mukul Chaudhary (18) lost their wickets after spending time at the crease.

While chasing the target, the Titans openers adopted a defensive strategy and scored only 25 runs in the first four overs. Shubman Gill scored 20 runs from the over by hitting a six and three fours against Shami in the fifth over. Gill completed his 4000 runs in IPL during this period. Rathi, who came to bowl the next over, dismissed Sudarshan on the very first ball. Butler, who came to the crease, completed his half-century of team runs with four fours in the same over.

In Rathi’s next over, Pant gave life to Butler by taking an easy catch. Gill hit a four against George Linde from the other end, while Butler sent the balls of Avesh and Rathi across the boundary without taking any risk. Gill completed his half-century in 34 balls by stealing one run against Avesh Khan in the 12th over, while Butler finished the over with a hat-trick of fours. He completed his half-century in 29 balls by running one run off Linde’s ball. This is Butler’s 100th half-century in the T20 format.

Prince dismissed Gill, while Shami tried to make a comeback by giving two blows to the Titans in seven balls, but Washington Sundar (21 not out) and Rahul Tewatia (10 not out) completed the formalities of taking the team to the target. Earlier, after being invited to bat, Mitchell Marsh (11 runs in four balls) welcomed Rabada in the second over by hitting sixes and fours on consecutive balls, but this experienced South African bowler dodged him on the slow ball and got caught by Gill.

Markram ended this over with a four, due to which the team scored 19 runs. From the other end, Siraj gave a big blow to the Super Giants by dismissing Pant who hit a six and a four in his 11-ball innings. Markram completed the team’s half-century in the sixth over by hitting a six over long-on off Ashok’s ball. After the powerplay, Super Giants’ score was 60 runs for two wickets. The South African batsman avoided getting out twice in the next over, but while trying to play a big shot for the third consecutive time on Prasidh’s ball, he played the ball into the hands of Washington Sundar.

Prasidh dismissed Badoni in his next over, after which the Super Giants batsmen struggled to score runs. The team scored only 18 runs between the eighth and 12th overs. Samad ended the 33-ball boundary drought with consecutive fours off Rabada. From the other end, Puran, who has scored six runs in 14 balls so far, accelerated the run pace by hitting sixes on consecutive balls against Rashid. In the same over, Rashid gave life to Samad by taking a catch on his own ball, but Prasidh showed Puran the way to the pavilion on a slow ball.

While Ashok made Samad walk, Mukul Choudhary, who led the Super Giants to victory in the last match, could not do anything special. He hit a six against Rabada, but Prasidh’s bouncer ball played into the hands of the wicketkeeper. Linde (16 runs in 10 balls) and Mohammed Shami (12 not out in five balls), who came as ‘impact players’ in place of Badoni, made important contributions in taking the team to the score of 164 by scoring 33 runs in the last two overs.