Gujarat Titans have enjoyed a dominant display in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, winning matches out of 12 to secure a place in the Playoffs comfortably. They rode on consistently brilliant batting by their top order comprising skipper Shubman Gill, B. Sai Sudharsan, and Jos Buttler, and fine bowling by pacers Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj.
Though they secured a playoff spot, GT had problem areas like a brittle middle-order and chinks in their bowling unit which Lucknow Super Giants exploited to hand the IPL 2022 winners a comprehensive defeat in an inconsequential match on Thursday.
Mitchell Marsh slammed a hundred and William O'Rourke bagged 3-27 to guide LSG to a 33-run win at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Marsh scored 117 off 64 balls laced with 10 fours and eight sixes and with Nicholas Pooran slamming a 27-ball 56, helped LSG post a massive 235/2 after being asked to bat first.
Marsh scored his maiden century of the season, reaching the three-figure mark in 56 balls -- the fastest hundred for LSG, and shared a brilliant partnership with Pooran.
Gujarat Titans skipper Shubman Gill admitted that they allowed LSG to score 15-20 extra runs on Thursday.
We gave 15-20 extra. If we'd stopped them at 210-220 it would've been better, that was a huge difference. We bowled well in the powerplay, yes, we didn't get wickets. But they scored 180 in the next 14 overs which was a lot.
It did not look like things would go haywire for GT as LSG managed a decent 53 for no loss in the Power-play. But they scored 180 runs in the next 14 overs to post a massive total.
In response, Gujarat Titans lost their top-three batters Sai Sudharsan (21), Shgubman Gill (35), and Jos Buttler (33) as they were reduced to 96/3 by 10 overs.
This put pressure on the GT middle-order for the first time and apart from M. Shahrukh Khan 57 off 29 balls and Sherfane Rutherford (38 off 22) rest of the batters failed to contribute much as Gujarat Titans could manage 202/9 in 20 overs to lose their fourth match of the season in 13 games.
We were right in the game till the 17th over. Shahrukh and Rutherford batted well. Getting momentum back will be key in the next game.
Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant, who is under pressure following his repeated failures with the bat and the team's failure to reach the playoffs, was happy that his team could manage to play its brand of cricket eventually.
We talk about playing good cricket, we've shown on occasion we can do that. There were times in the tournament when we had our chances (but didn't make it), but it's part and parcel of the game.
"It was always a question of getting the top three today, but the way Shahrukh played gives them hope. At the same time, we knew the target was above par. Bowlers held their nerves well. Coming into the tournament, there were injury concerns. We made sure it was something we wouldn't talk about. The whole batting unit has played, we lacked a bit on the fielding side. We can't make excuses, just want to learn and move on," said Pant.
With this win, LSG took their points tally to 12 points from 13 matches while GT remained on 18 points.
Brief Scores: Lucknow Super Giants 235/2 in 20 overs (Mitchell Marsh 117, Nicholas Pooran 56 not out; R Sai Kishore 1-34, Arshad Khan 1-36) beat Gujarat Titans 202/9 in 20 overs (Shahrukh Khan 57, Sherfane Rutherford 38; William O’Rourke 3-27, Ayush Badoni 2-4) by 33 runs
