Live Report - Lucknow Super Giants vs Gujarat Titans, Lucknow

LSG are stunned! They needed 31 to win off 36 balls with nine wickets in hand and go down to the defending champions for the third time in a row. What an effort from Noor Ahmad, Shami and Mohit. Such accuracy in the death overs in a tournament that has seen a lot of runs being score in that phase. A lot of questions will be asked of KL Rahul's knock, yet again.

KL Rahul can't see his side through after batting for 19.2 overs! Stoinis falls for a golden duck! It's all happening here in Lucknow, with the home team perishing!

Rahul first finds the fielder at the long leg boundary before Stoinis slaps another slower ball down the ground to long-on. Both catches taken a few yards inside the rope.

10 to get off three.

With just four singles, one dot ball and a leg bye, Shami finishes another boundary-less over. Extremely tight bowling from Shami even though it included a full toss which Rahul should have put away. Mohit to bowl the last, 11 to defend. Rahul on strike on 66 off 59.

Excellent over from Mohit Sharma. A mix of yorkers in the slot and slower balls, and he leaks just six singles. Things getting trickier for LSG after looking so comfortable earlier. Seventeen to win off 12 balls. A lot more will be said of Rahul's batting if LSG let this slip from here. Shami will bowl the 19th.

Two strikes from wristspinner Noor Ahmad and he has dismissed two left-hand batters, Krunal Pandya and Nicholas Pooran. The equation was still 30 off 27 when Krunal got out, but after a string of dot balls, Pooran goes for a massive sweep and ends up with a leading edge on the off side which Hardik gets under.

Badoni joins the well-set Rahul. LSG need 23 off 18. Still ahead in the chase, I'd say, but it's a lot trickier now. Shami has two left and Noor is done with 4-0-18-2.

KL Rahul gets a life now, after chipping an offbreak from Jayant to long-on, where Shankar puts the ball down while diving forward. Earlier in the chase, Abhinav Manohar had dropped Krunal at the long leg boundary.

It's his 33rd IPL fifty and this one may actually be the one that will make LSG win on a tough pitch.

Since Rashid Khan knocked over Mayers' off stump in the seventh over, LSG have been finding the boundary once every over to keep their chase well under control. Rahul is looking solid and on top of things while closing in on his fifty, and Krunal is going just over run a ball after 11 over.

Leg need 48 to win off 54 balls. Shouldn't be tough.

Why did Bishnoi bowl ahead of Mishra earlier in the chase, despite being the more expensive bowler?

Before this game, his powerplay strike rate this IPL was 109.19.

Rashid Khan, expected to be Titans' biggest threat today, gets the fifth over and he is smashed for 16 runs! Two more pulls from Rahul for two back-to-back boundaries and three balls later, Mayers lofts him over long-on for a six. LSG finish the powerplay on 53 for 0. Is it game over already?

KL Rahul has seen all your fake stats about the maidens he has faced and has the above for you. LSG 30 for 0 after four overs, with Kyle Mayers also looking for boundaries.

Gujarat Titans bring in Jayant Yadav as the impact sub for Gill to bolster their spin attack.

LSG are chasing a small total which will be challenging on this pitch. They are already the second-slowest scorer in the powerplays this IPL: going at 7.72 an over after SRH’s 7.19. One of the main reasons is KL Rahul in powerplays this IPL: 95 off 87, SR of 109.19. And guess what, he has started the chase with a maiden off Mohammed Shami.

Here are some match-ups to watch out for:

-Pooran vs Rashid in all T20s: 26 of 41, two dismissals.

-Rahul vs Hardik in IPL: 81 off 44, SR 182, no dismissals

-Rahul vs Rashid in IPL: 18 off 30, three dismissals

-Rahul vs Shami in IPL: 13 off 17, two dismissals

-Hooda vs Rashid in IPL: 28 off 29, three dismissals

-Krunal vs Shami in IPL: 24 off 19, three dismissals

-Krunal vs Rashid in IPL: 16 off 19, three dismissals

-Stoinis vs Rashid in all T20s: 54 off 46, four dismissals

Here's an interesting stat from Sampath...

Hardik Pandya for Gujarat Titans:

While batting first - 403 runs at 67.16, with 5 fifties in 9 innings.

While chasing - 199 runs at 19.9, with 0 fifties in 11 innings.

Additional stat: Ravi Bishnoi conceded 36.3% runs of Gujarat Titans' total (49 out of 135/4). Only one bowler conceded a higher percentage of runs in a completed IPL innings - 42.3 % by Shadab Jakati for CSK (44 out of Deccan Chargers' 104/10 in the 2010 semis).

Titans finish on 135 for 6 after the LSG spinners and some paceless death bowling from Stoinis and Naveen keep them largely quiet in the end. Miller finishes with a strike rate of 50 after facing 12 balls without a boundary, and LSG will be very happy about that. 135 won't be easy by any standards though. Do GT have enough spinners to do the job today?

With Mishra subbed out, Bishnoi gets the 18th and he is taken down by Hardik for 4, 6 and 6 in a massive 19-run over that takes the GT captain past his 50, off 44 balls, and GT's run rate towards seven an over. All three sixes today have come from Hardik of Bishnoi, who finishes with 4-0-49-0.

The last boundary came on 12.5 and the last two overs - the 16th and 17th - have slowed down Titans to bring their scoring rate to exact six an over after 17 overs. Bishnoi made a really good comeback with tight bowling and then Avesh Khan took the pace off without offering much width to concede just three and five runs respectively. Can Titans get to 140-odd?

Oh hello! Mishra had two overs left and they have subbed him out to bring in Prerak Mankad! Interesting decision.

Gujarat Titans are 92 for 4 after 15 overs. Will spinners bowl four of those five? Mishra will surely bowl his two, but Bishnoi has leaked 25 in his two. Naveen will most likely bowl the fifth, and my guess is LSG will trust Bishnoi to fight back in the death overs to strangle Gujarat Titans. It's a slow pitch with big boundaries so batters have to use a lot of power to hit sixes here. Only one has been hit so far (by Hardik) and a lot rests on Hardik's shoulders in the death overs, and he's joined by David Miller.

If not Bishnoi, LSG's other options are the fast bowling of Avesh Khan and Stoinis who have two each left.

The wicket will and should go in Mishra's name but half the credit for this goes to Naveen-ul-Haq, the fielder at deep cover. Manohar takes on a slow and flighted ball towards what could be the longest boundary of the ground and he can't clear Naveen, who dives full length to his right to grab the ball with both hands just inside the rope. Not surprisingly, LSG have taken 32 of the 37 catches they have been offered so far (acc to ESPNcricinfo's data). Mishra 1 for 9 after two overs, Titans 78 for 13 after 12.

Don't look at Saha's strike rate today. It's not an average pitch, it's pretty slow, it's assisting the slow bowlers, and even 150 could be tough to chase here. Saha also holes out down the ground as Krunal bags his second, but his knock could prove to be very crucial here because he has helped Gujarat Titans set a solid platform to build on in the second half. Abhinav Manohar at No. 4. Krunal's spell is over already and he finishes with 4-0-16-2.

The pitch is slow but Bishnoi has not really bowled to his field today yet. Two early overs - one in the powerplay and second was the ninth over - and he has been taken for three fours and a six already! He has bowled slightly wide, a little too full to Hairdik and was struck for six, and his two overs have gone for 25 so far. Is it a pre-meditated plan from GT to take down Bishnoi today? He was their best spinner by a mile until today with eight wickets and an economy rate of just 6.97.

More spin from LSG, more aggression from Saha. Ravi Bishnoi comes on for the last over of the powerplay and Saha dispatches him for two fours in the over to help GT finish on 40 for 1 in the powerplay, their lowest total in the phase in IPL 2023.

Gill's dismissal - when he came down and handed a simple catch to long-off after some turn - implies there's turn for the spinners, and Krunal has already bowled two of the first four overs. Even though Saha is going at over run a ball by going for some big shots, it could be a low scorer today because there's not much bounce and pace on this pitch.

Second, Hardik must have come at No. 3 to drop anchor on this pitch where run-scoring won't be easy so he will try to hold one end and Saha will go for the big shots in the powerplay, before spin comes on from both ends. LSG have four spinners today - Krunal, Rashid, Mishra and Hooda. Saha has already struck three fours by 4.3 overs and now his right forearm is getting some attention from the physio.

Spin after just six balls on this black soil pitch. Krunal Pandya bowls the second over and removes Titans' top scorer this season - Shubman Gill - for a duck! And Hardik Pandya promotes himself to No. 3 to face his brother. Here's their match-up: 10 off 13 balls, one dismissal.

Gujarat Titans choose to bat. Pandya says it's the "smarter option" on this wicket, even if they have a good chasing record. He says Alzarri Joseph misses out and Noor Ahmad comes in. KL Rahul would have also batted first. Yudhvir misses out today for them and Amit Mishra comes in the starting XI.

Why are teams opting to bat first even though the trend is to chase in T20s? Firstly, it's a day game, 3.30pm IST start, so there's no threat of the dew. Secondly, in T20Is at this ground, five of six games have been won by teams batting first. The only team that won chasing here was India against New Zealand earlier this year.

Like Abhimanyu Bose wrote in his preview, the first match in Lucknow this IPL helped the quicks - remember Wood's five-for? - and the second assisted the spinners with the black soil. Today looks like another black soil pitch to assist the slower bowlers, and that helps the home team (LSG) because they have more spin depth in their starting XI: Mishra, Bishnoi, Krunal and Hooda. Titans, on the other hand, have banked mainly on their pace attack of Shami, Mohit and Joseph (not playing today) whereas the spin responsibility has fallen mainly on Rashid's shoulders. No wonder Noor Ahmad plays today. And will we see Rahul Tewatia finally bowl today?

GT: 1 Shubman Gill, 2 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 3 Hardik Pandya (capt.), 4 Vijay Shankar, 5 Abhinav Manohar, 6 David Miller, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Noor Ahmed, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Mohit Sharma. Impact options: Josh Little, Jayant Yadav, Shivam Mavi, Sai Kishore, KS Bharat

LSG: 1 KL Rahul (capt.), 2 Kyle Mayers, 3 Deepak Hooda, 4 Krunal Pandya, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 7 Ayush Badoni, 8 Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Avesh Khan, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Amit Mishra. Impact options: Unadkat, K Gowtham, Sams, Prerak Mankad, Karan Sharma