Ahmedabad, May 23 (IANS) Opener Mitchell Marsh slammed the fastest century by a Lucknow Super Giants batter in their history of being in the IPL while pacer William O’Rourke picked 3-27, including striking twice in the 17th over, to help the visitors beat top-ranked Gujarat Titans’ by 33 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday.
After Marsh’s 64-ball 117 was the main driving force behind LSG posting a mammoth 235/2, the visitors removed GT’s in-form top three batters within the first ten overs. GT’s middle order was finally put to a stern test, and Shahrukh Khan kept them in the hunt by sharing an 86-run stand off 40 balls for the fourth wicket with Sherfane Rutherford.
But O’Rourke’s double strike meant GT finished on 202/9, as LSG won both their games against the hosts this season. Pushed into batting first on a black soil pitch, Marsh was severe on the loose deliveries and showcased some great power-hitting skills to hit his first-ever IPL century, laced with ten fours and eight sixes at a strike-rate of 182.81.
The standout factor of Marsh’s amazing knock was his thrashing 25 runs off a Rashid Khan over. He was ably supported by Aiden Markram, making a quick 24-ball 36 while Nicholas Pooran’s promotion to number three resulted in him making 56 not out off 27 balls – laced with four fours and five sixes at a strike rate of 207.41.
For GT, it was a forgettable night with the ball as none of the bowlers could make a strong impression on a pitch that was nothing less than a batting beauty. Makram and Marsh hit seven boundaries between themselves in a sedate power-play yielding 53 runs, with the latter being dropped twice. The six-over phase also saw Arshad Khan slipping twice in his delivery stride in his opening over, though he became fine to complete his quota of overs.
Marsh then found his rhythm to slam six boundaries from overs 7-10 and bring up his fifty off just 34 balls with a straight six off R Sai Kishore. Though Kishore got GT a much-needed breakthrough in the form of Markram’s wicket, Pooran got going by dispatching him over long-off for six.
When Rashid finally came back into the attack in the 12th over, Marsh unlocked his beast mode – swiping, cutting, lofting, and pulling him twice to collect 25 runs. Pooran continued to smack spinners for boundaries before he and Marsh smacked 20 runs off Siraj’s final over. The duo took four each off Arshad before Marsh got his century in 56 balls.
Marsh then hit Krishna for back-to-back sixes in the 18th over, before slicing to backward point off Arshad, ending his stand of 121 off just 52 balls for the second wicket with Pooran. After Pooran swiped Arshad for six, Rishabh Pant lofted and smacked Rabada for two sixes in the final over, as LSG posted their third-highest IPL total.
Chasing 236, Shubman Gill and B Sai Sudharsan hit eight fours in the first four overs – five of which came off the GT skipper’s blade. After Sudharsan cut O’Rourke for a four, the pacer bowled a slightly fuller ball and the left-handed opener went for a drive, but was early into it and was caught by diving mid-off completing a low grab.
Jos Buttler was blazing from the word go – scooping, smacking, lofting, and drilling Avesh Khan for 20 runs in the last over of power-play. Gill continued to be sublime by hitting two fours, before going for a loft off Avesh resulted in the bat slightly rotating in his hand, and sliced to long-off, who put in a sprint and dived to complete a stunning catch.
Akash Singh, who split his webbing on the right hand while trying to stop a drive off Gill, got a slower ball to come back in and castle Buttler through the gate. The left-arm pacer dedicated the wicket to Digvesh Rathi, who was out of this game due to getting his third demerit point, by bringing out the notebook celebration and pointing towards the dressing room, as GT lost their top three batters before reaching the halfway mark.
With 139 runs needed off the last ten overs, Shahrukh and Rutherford stepped up to keep GT in the hunt. They hit quick boundaries initially before taking 17 and 19 runs off Avesh and Shahbaz Ahamad off overs 14 and 15 respectively, and followed it up by hitting Akash Deep for 17 runs in the 16th over.
With 54 runs needed off the last four overs, Rutherford went for an aerial flick off O’Rourke but was early into the shot, and substitute fielder Ravi Bishnoi came in from deep midwicket to complete the catch.
O’Rourke struck again in the same over by having Rahul Tewatia hole out to long-off, before Shahbaz had Arshad Khan slicing to point. Once Avesh had Shahrukh, who got his fifty in 22 balls, caught at cover off a low dipping full toss, the game was all but sealed in LSG’s favour.
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
–IANS
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