Gujarat Titans 135 for 6 (Hardik 66, Saha 47, Krunal 2-16, Stoinis 2-20) beat Lucknow Super Giants 128 for 7 (Rahul 68, Noor 2-18, Mohit 2-17) by seven runs

A game that was very much in Lucknow Super Giants' hands was snatched from them by the combined efforts of Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami. The Gujarat Titans bowlers turned the tables on the hosts, when they needed a comfortable 31 to win from 36 balls with as many as nine wickets left and a well-set KL Rahul in the middle.

The turnaround started with Noor Ahmad picking up two wickets for one run over nine balls, which put the pressure back on Super Giants as the equation reached 23 off 18. Mohit then sent down a flurry of accurate yorkers and slower balls for six singles, Shami bowled a tight 19th over for five runs, and when 12 were needed off six, Mohit pretty much shut the game out with the wickets of Rahul and Marcus Stoinis on the second and third balls of the last over. When 10 were needed off three, Ayush Badoni and Deepak Hooda were run out while attempting risky second runs and a dot ball sealed the win for Titans.

Titans are on eight points now, like the three teams above them on the IPL points table, and extended their unbeaten record against Super Giants to 3-0.

More questions on Rahul?

When Rahul raced to 30 off 19 and led his team to 53 for 0 in the powerplay with Kyle Mayers, it looked like the LSG captain was ready to take the bowlers on on a slow and sluggish pitch. He and Mayers finished the boundary-laden powerplay on such a good score that the asking rate had come down to under six an over.

Rahul brought up his fifty off 38 balls, stitched a fifty stand with both Mayers and No. 3 Krunal Pandya, and looked all set to see his side through when they needed 31 from the last six overs.

But the Titans bowlers dried up the boundaries after the 13th over, and took advantage of Super Giants' slow down to eventually emerge victorious. Noor's second spell started the slide with wickets in consecutive overs when Krunal was stumped while going for a big shot and Nicholas Pooran was caught off the leading edge by Hardik Pandya while attempted a big sweep. When it came down to the last three overs, Rahul just couldn't put away Shami and Mohit's accurate deliveries and holed out before Stoinis did the same in the last over.

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