In battle of buddies & brothers, Hardik winks at KL, Krunal

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 captain
This was a right game for us to finish on either side but I am happy that we won. When wicket assists you a little bit, Shami can really come into the game. He got us to a great start. [On batting at No. 4] I want to take some more responsibility with the bat. It was quite humid as well so I didn’t want to take the risk of giving Shami his fourth over on the trot. Getting out to Krunal would have pinched me more if we wouldn’t have won.

KL Rahul | Losing captain
The start wasn’t ideal but the way we recovered was phenomenal. The win would have been great but a lot to learn from this. If anyone can exploit the pitch, it’s Shami. I have played with him for three-four years the last franchise and I knew he could be dangerous. I think we gave ourselves a good chance with the ball till the 14th or 15th over. But it can be difficult with the dew. We need to go back and practise a bit more with the wet ball.