LSG skipper KL Rahul in action against GT on Saturday.© BCCI/IPL
KL Rahul has been drawing lot of flak of late for his string low scores. While his international form has not been good, much is being expected of him as the Lucknow Super Giants skipper in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. He recently scored 74 against Punjab Kings recently. On Saturday, he looked to be in good form against defending champions Gujarat Titans in an IPL 2023 match in Lucknow. During the course of his innings, Rahul reached a special milestone. On the final ball of LSG’s chase of 136 against GT, Rahul hit Mohammed Shami a four and went past 7000 runs in T20s.
Rahul is the first Indian batter to score over 7000 T20 runs in less than 200 innings. Rahul took 197 innings to reach the mark. The next fastest to the milestone is Virat Kohli, who reached the milestone in 212 innings. Shikhar Dhawan is the third fastest Indian to 7000 T20 runs – in 246 innings. India captain Rohit Sharma went past 7000 runs in T20s in 258 innings.
Talking about the game, Hardik Pandya top-scored with a 50-ball 66 but slow batting in the middle overs meant that Gujarat Titans could post only a modest 135 for six against Lucknow Super Giants in their IPL match on Saturday. Wriddhiman Saha made 47 off 37 balls to lay the foundation but Hardik couldn’t get going for most part of his innings although he somewhat made up for the slow batting with some big hits in the end.
With the pitch a tad slow and aiding the spinners, stroke-making was difficult and Krunal Pandya emerged Lucknow’s best bowler as he snapped two wickets, giving away just 16 runs after coming to bowl in the second over.
Pacer Naveen-ul-Haq (1/19) and Marcus Stoinis (2/20) also did the job but Ravi Bishnoi had a forgettable outing as he conceded 49 off his quota of four overs.
The black soil pitch didn’t offer much bounce and pace but Naveen-ul-Haq used the conditions well, not allowing the batters to break free as he conceded just 12 in his first two overs.
Krunal drew first blood, dismissing Shubhman Gill for a duck in just his second delivery with the opener holing out to Ravi Bishnoi at long-off.
With PTI inputs
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