Mumbai: Pacer Mohammed Shami bowled a fiery opening spell before Rahul Tewatia smashed an unbeaten 40 to help Gujarat Titans register a 5-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants in their maiden IPL match here on Monday.
Shami (3/25) bowled a fiery opening spell to knock the wind out of the Super Giants’ top order before Gujarat Titans Deepak Hooda (55 off 41 balls) and Ayush Badoni (54 off 41 balls) smashed fifties to help their team post 158 for six.
Skipper Hardik Pandya (33), all-rounder Tewatia (40 not out), Matthew Wade (30) and David Miller (30) then rallied together to take the Titans over the line. Apart from Shami’s three, Varun Aaron picked two wickets (2/45) while Rashid Khan (1/27) accounted for one batter for the Titans. Dushmantha Chameera (2/22) was the pick of the bowlers for Super Giants.
Hardik Pandya, Winning skipper, said, This was the right game for us to be on either side and learn, but have learnt a lot by winning. Shami is known for his seam positions and he got us to a great start. We would have any day taken 160 on this wicket. Mostly I’ll bat at number four, because I want to take pressure with my experience so that the others can play freely. We want to win as a team and nobody can take the contribution away from anyway. It was quite humid as well, so I wouldn’t have finished Shami’s spell over there. Manohar is some talent to look at with the talent he has. He is someone who you are going to hear about in the future. Tewatia was sensational as well. Getting out to Krunal would have pinched me more had we lost, but now the family is neutral and happy. He got me out and we won the match.
KL Rahul, Losing skipper, said, ‘ It was a phenomenal game. What a way to start the campaign. Starting off like that with the bat was not ideal but the way we recovered was phenomenal. It gives us so much confidence when the batters in the middle and lower order can do the job. We know with the Wankhede the ball can do a bit at the start and if we can get through that it will be ideal. We couldn’t have started the campaign in any better way. There is so much to take away and learn for us. Sometimes you gotta give it to the quality of the bowler. We all know how good Shami is and if anyone could exploit the pitch that is Shami. I knew he would be dangerous. It is good to see him bowl that well. With the way we finished and batted in the second half we gave ourselves a chance. It gets really difficult with the dew to grip the ball but I don’t want to give that as an excuse. We have to go back and practice bowling with the wet ball. We executed most of our plans but with a wet ball it skids on nicely. Good win for them and good learning for us. He’s (Badoni) baby AB. He has been phenomenal from the first day. For a little boy he packs a punch and plays 360 degrees, so happy for him as he grabbed the opportunity. It was not ideal for him to walk out with us four down but he did well under pressure and hopefully he can continue doing that.’
Rahul Tewatia, said, ‘ The wicket was good and the communication between Miller and me was to take the game deep and during the strategic break I told Miller I will take chances in the next over as the boundary was smaller on the leg-side, and the ball wasn’t spinning much. Bishnoi was bowling those googlies and after that reverse sweep, the situation was such that I had go after the bowler and had to play my shots. During our camp, I saw Abhinav’s batting and he is a very clean striker and the X-factor of our team and we have been playing together for the last few weeks now and I had complete trust in him that he will play his shots. Playing your shots in the first game with that confidence is really pleasing to see. The plan is to concentrate on the process and that’s what we did during the practice. Ashish (Nehra) has made sure that everyone the squad is in a happy mood.’
Mohammed Shami, MoM, said, ‘Iwas warmed up well. It was important to get a good start in the first match, I looked to bowl a Test match line and length here. When the ball comes out of your hand like that … (smiles). I have worked very hard on this seam position. People say it is god-gifted, but that’s not the case. I try to come round the wicket to a leftie and make that angle because that’s the most uncomfortable thing for them. I just look to do that. Hardik asked me if I wanted the fourth over on the trot, but I told him to hold me back.’