Gujarat Titans Take Lesson from Nasty Defeat in Playoff Push

The Gujarat Titans suffered a tough defeat to Lucknow Super Giants by 33 runs in one of their latest games. Although they had been leading the points table up until this match, the loss made their fate to finish in the top two places uncertain. Currently Gujarat Titans have 18 points from 13 games, but Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings are closely following them with 17 points and one game remaining. Mumbai Indians also have a potential with 16 points from 13 games. The race to Qualifier 1 in the playoffs is tightly contested and any match counts a lot.

Gill who captains Gujarat Titans stated after the match that despite the loss, the middle order batsmen got quality time at the crease. Traditionally, the bulk of the runs for Gujarat are provided by the top three batsmen Gill, Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler who have collectively scored more than 1800 runs in the tournament. But in this game of pursuing 236 runs, the first three couldn't linger long and were all out by the 10th over. Sherfane Rutherford and Shahrukh Khan contributed in some runs and kept the team in the match until the 17th over. Then the chase was slowed down as rapid wickets fell and the team managed to score only 202 runs for 9 wickets in their 20 overs.

Gill acknowledged that they conceded 15 to 20 additional runs to the opposition that made a huge impact. They wanted to limit the Lucknow team to about 210 runs but scored 236 which was much more difficult to chase. He added that the bowlers did well during the powerplay but did not get wickets. Following the powerplay the opposition made about 180 runs in 14 overs which was plenty of runs. While chasing 240 runs was never ever going to be easy, Gill looks on the bright side of how Rutherford and Shahrukh played their innings and hopes that the team can learn from this experience and come back stronger to win their next matches.

Lucknow Super Giants, however, were relieved to bring an end to their four-match losing streak in this win though the victory came too late for them to make it to the playoffs. Their skipper Rishabh Pant was satisfied with the performance of the team but also reflected on how they had let the opportunities go earlier to make it to the playoffs. He said that injuries to regular players such as Mitch, Markram and Pooran had impacted their season. The batsmen were in good form but the team also committed errors during fielding at a cost. Pant indicated that the team will learn from their errors and attempt to do better in the future.

Gujarat Titans will now remain in Ahmedabad and prepare for their next challenging game against Chennai Super Kings. Lucknow Super Giants will go home to play Royal Challengers Bengaluru in a game where LSG will attempt to upset another side in contention for a top two place. The playoffs race is close and every game from here on out will be extremely crucial for these sides as they attempt to keep alive their chances.