Gujarat overcomes Lucknow in first meeting of new IPL teams

MUMBAI, India (AP) — Rahul Tewatia smacked 40 not out off 24 balls for Gujarat Titans to overcome Lucknow Super Giants by five wickets and register their maiden win in the Indian Premier League on Monday.

The first meeting of the new expansion teams wasn’t decided until there were two balls left.

Tewatia’s blitz helped Gujarat to score 161-5 in reply to Lucknow’s 158-6.

Gujarat was in a sweet spot at 72-2 after 10 overs when Hardik Pandya (33) was caught off his older brother Krunal Pandya, and Matthew Wade (30) was bowled by Deepak Hooda in consecutive overs.

Tewatia restored visions of victory with five fours and two sixes, and he had significant help.

David Miller scored 30 off 21 balls in a stand of 50 in less than six overs, then hard-hitting youngster Abhinav Manohar provided the finishing touch with Tewatia of 15 not out off seven balls, including three fours.

“We wanted to take the game deep and I told my partner I would take chances to score boundaries,” Tewatia said. “During our preseason camp, I saw Abhinav’s batting and he is a very clean striker of the ball. I had trust in him to play his shots (to finish the game).”

Put in to bat, Lucknow made a shocking start and was reduced to 29-4 in 4.3 overs.

Mohammed Shami had Lokesh Rahul caught behind for a first-ball duck, and bowled Quinton de Kock for 7.

Shami also bowled Manish Pandey in the fifth over to finish with 3-25.

Hooda and youngster Ayush Badoni got into the rescue act. They put on 87 runs for the fifth wicket to save Lucknow from embarrassment in its maiden IPL outing.

Hooda played the senior role as he scored 55 off 44 balls, including six fours and two sixes.

But it was Badoni who set alight the stage with his aggressive batting, hitting three sixes and four fours, and scoring 54 off 41 balls in all. Badoni reached his maiden IPL half-century off 38 balls. Their counterattacking partnership helped Lucknow cross 100 until Rashid Khan trapped Hooda lbw.

Krunal Pandya added 21 off 13 balls, and put on 40 runs off 23 balls with Badoni as Lucknow mustered a fighting total.

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