Saha and Gill's aggression sets up huge Titans win

Gujarat Titans are all but through to the playoffs of IPL 2023 after their 56-run win over Lucknow Super Giants in Ahmedabad. Titans now have 16 points from 11 games and a net run rate of 0.951, by far the best in the league.

The win was set up by Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill who added 142 in 12.1 overs for the first wicket - the highest partnership for Titans. Saha scored 81 off 43 and Gill finished on an unbeaten 94 off 51 to power them to 227 for 2.

In response, Quinton de Kock, playing his first match of the season, and Kyle Mayers gave LSG a start of 88 in 8.2 overs. But once Mohit Sharma dismissed Mayers to break that stand, the incoming batters couldn't keep up with the required rate.

The contest was also significant because Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya became only the second set of brothers to captain their respective sides against each other in T20 cricket. The Hussey brothers faced off twice during the Big Bash League in 2015-16 when Mike was leading Sydney Thunder and David Melbourne Stars.

At Titans, Saha's role with bat is to attack in the powerplay, and he couldn't have done more justice to it. He started with two fours off Mohsin Khan in the opening over. The first one had come via an outside edge but that didn't bother Saha. In the next over, he picked up a six and four off Avesh Khan.

Mohsin came in for more punishment in the fourth over with Saha hitting two fours and two sixes. By the end of that over Titans had cruised to 53; Saha's contribution was 46.

With a six over long-on off Yash Thakur, Saha brought up his half-century, off just 20 balls in the sixth over. By the halfway stage, Saha had moved to 74 off 37 but his innings came to an end when he dragged Avesh Khan to deep square leg.

Gill had spent most of the powerplay watching Saha from the non-striker's end. He faced just five balls in the first four overs and was on 9 off ten at one point. But soon he was matching Saha shot for shot, even outshining him.

It started with a six off Krunal; Deepak Hooda jumped at long-off and tried to lob it back but failed. Shortly after that, Gill launched Ravi Bishnoi for two sixes in one over, and raised his fifty off 29 balls. There were six sixes but no four in his first 68 runs.

After Saha fell, and Gill started tiring a bit in the harsh Ahmedabad heat, Hardik and David Miller chipped in with cameos. Gill had reached 85 when Thakur started the last over of the innings. He hit the first two balls for a six and a two, reaching 93 with four to go. But that was followed by a dot and single. Miller pulled the penultimate ball for a four and took a single off the final one, with Gill finishing six short of what would have been his maiden IPL hundred.

Mohammed Shami started Titans' defence with a four-run over. But in the next three overs, Mayers and de Kock smashed nine fours and six. With LSG racing to 50 in four overs, Hardik was forced to introduce both wristspinners Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad inside the powerplay. Still, there was no respite for Titans. The LSG openers hit three fours and a six in the Afghan duo's first two overs.

When Titans were batting, a couple of slower balls had stuck in the surface. Mohit used the same trick to dismiss Mayers as the batter miscued one towards deep square leg, where Rashid, after running in diagonally to his right, completed the catch with a slide.

Mayers' wicket slowed LSG down drastically. The next six overs, including the one in which he fell, brought LSG just 33 runs. It left them needing 107 from the last six overs.

De Kock tried to revive the chase with a six off Mohit but the bowler bounced back by dismissing Marcus Stoinis with yet another slower ball. In the next over, Rashid sent back de Kock to effectively end the game. Ayush Badoni tried to reduce the margin of the loss before Mohit dismissed him and Krunal to finish with 4 for 29.