IPL 2022, GT vs LSG Live Cricket Score: Shami removes Rahul on first ball; Gujarat off to brilliant start at Wankhede

Varun Aaron concedes seven and Shami continues from the other end. We’ve seen Test match line from him so far. Just shows his experience and skill-set.

First boundary of the match! Varun Aaron bowled that on Evin Lewis’ pads and the West Indian pulls that away to fine leg for a boundary. Too easy for Lewis.

The Gujarat camp is on cloud nine. An unplayable delivery from Shami and the ball took a faint edge. Rahul has to walk back without troubling the scorers. Shami is doing what Umesh did in the tournament opener. Tremendous first over from the Indian.

LSG 2/1

A big spike and umpire has raised his finger! Shami removes Rahul on the first ball!

What a start!!! Sensational from Shami and Hardik has gone for a referral.

We are all set for the start! Rahul and de Kock are making way to the middle. Also, this is Matthew Wade’s first IPL game in 11 years.

The pitch has a bit less grass today and it looks like a dry surface. Don’t forget the dew factor that will come into the picture later. A good toss to win on captaincy debut.

All eyes on the lethal opening duo of Rahul and de Kock. The two exciting batters joined the new IPL franchise from Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians and they are set to start a new IPL chapter today.

Rashid Khan has got LSG skipper KL Rahul three times in five IPL innings. An exciting battle coming up! Spotlight will also be on Shami and Ferguson, who will look for early wickets with the new ball.

“It’s always good to have that Purple Cap. But more than that I will try and contribute whatever the team needs of me and if that is dot balls. In my first year 2017 second game I had that cap and since then I never had that cap, but definitely will be a great feeling to have that,” says Rashid Khan.

Three overseas players in Lucknow eleven: Evin Lewis, Quinton de Kock and Chameera. Matthew Wade, David Miller, Lockie Ferguson and Rashid Khan are Gujarat’s four foreign picks.

Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Evin Lewis, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Dushmantha Chameera, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan

“The dew plays a big part in the second innings but the wicket remains the same throughout 40 overs. It is our first game and it is important to go out there and enjoy ourselves,” says Rahul.

Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade(w), Vijay Shankar, Abhinav Manohar, Hardik Pandya(c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Aaron, Mohammed Shami

“We are going to bowl. First game we want to see how exactly the wickets are playing and keeping the dew factor as well. See, assess and go through from there,” says Hardik.

“It is a different role, different team but the feeling is same. We want to win here and let’s see how it goes. We are going to give all the guys full freedom to express themselves.”

Hardik Pandya wins toss, Gujarat Titans to bowl first at the Wankhede.

Hardik spotted bowling in the warm-up. “Entire Indian cricket fraternity will be looking at Hardik’s bowling performance. He will be an automatic choice in the Indian team if he starts bowling,” says Sunil Gavaskar on Star Sports.

We are moments away from the toss! Expect a cracking contest at the Wankhede. This is also Hardik’s first match as captain in T20s.

The Pandya brothers will be up against each other for the first time in the IPL. Hardik earlier also called the match “two boys against one” as LSG will be led by his good friend Rahul.

“I’m sure Krunal will be standing on the side and will be laughing at me because he has never seen me do this. It will be two boys against one,” he had said.

Rashid Khan has been spotted warming up in the Gujarat Titans jersey. Feels a bit weird to see him in blue, to be honest. He was a part of Sunrisers Hyderabad for five long years!

Talking about consistency, Quinton de Kock has scored 500-plus runs in the last two IPL seasons. The South African is among top players in the powerplay with 801 runs in the first six overs since 2019. We are about to see a lethal opening pair making its debut!

Hardik has got 1476 runs in 92 games at a brilliant strike rate of 153.91. Notably, he’s won four IPL titles so far while Rahul is yet to lay hands on the trophy. In 94 IPL games, the Karnataka lad has scored 3273 runs at a 136.37 strike rate.

As a batter, Rahul had scored 626 runs last season with highest score of unbeaten 98 against Punjab Kings. Along with being an able captain, he’s also among the top contenders for the Orange Cap this season.

Matches: 27

Won: 11

Lost: 14

Tied: 2

Runs scored: 1296

Winning percentage: 44.44

KL Rahul and Manish Pandey are the only players from the Lucknow camp who have captained an IPL franchise. Rahul has 12 wins from 27 games while Manish has none. Manish had lost the only game where he had donned the captain’s armband for Hyderabad. Rahul, on the other hand, has got a win percentage of 44.44.

Bishnoi, who can deceive the batters with his googlies. Rashid is no different. But Avesh Khan will look for that early movement. He became the most expensive uncapped Indian player after Lucknow Super Giants signed him for a staggering ₹10 crore. He had a base price of ₹20 lakh.

The team winning the toss would opt to bat first considering the dew factor. It will be interesting if either team plays an extra spinner on the surface.

The tournament opener between CSK and KKR at the Wankhede saw Umesh Yadav getting some early movement and the dew factor also coming into the picture. Chennai managed to post just 131 despite MS Dhoni special on a ground where teams often post 180-plus total. The average score here is 194 in the first innings.

Australia’s Matthew Wade will be playing in the IPL after a decade-long gap. Wade is back in the lucrative T20 league for the first time in 11 years and he could also open with Shubman Gill.

“It’s the start of something new and something very special. The response we’ve gotten from the people of UP has been overwhelming. Keep supporting us and hope we start off with a win,” says Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul in a video shared by the franchise.

While Rashid will be orchestrating the spin attack, Shami can take care of the death over bowling for the Titans. The Indian pacer has got 23 wickets in death overs since 2020. Having got a wide pool of spinners, GT can also try out Jayant Yadav and Sai Kishore as the second pick.

Hardik remains tight-lipped on his return to bowling but the Titans fans will be eager to see him in the bowler avatar. He is yet to play any competitive match post last year’s T20 World Cup.

Rashid is seven plucks short of 100 IPL wickets and the Afghanistan star can dictate the middle overs. Bishnoi, on the other hand, will look to flourish under new management and make a strong case for this year’s T20 World Cup. The youngster was recently a part of India’s home T20 assignment against the West Indies and Sri Lanka.

It will also be a battle between two leggies. Superstar Rashid Khan and young Ravi Bishnoi would relish bowling on the Wankhede strip.

Talking about Gujarat’s bowling, Mohammed Shami will be leading the pace force. Darshan Nalkande, 23, who was previously a part of the Punjab squad but didn’t get a game, could also get a chance to prove his mettle. In 22 T20s since 2019, he’s plucked 43 wickets at 10.56 strike rate.

“KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock’s right hand and left hand combination makes a devastating opening pair and they can get the team off to a flying start,” said legendary Sunil Gavaskar on Star Sports.

Lucknow have Krunal Pandya and Deepak Hooda to conceal any batting flaws towards the end. On the bowling front, they have young leggie Ravi Bishnoi and pacer Avesh Khan. They also have Manan Vohra, Shahbaz Nadeem and K Gothwam as experienced Indian picks.

Lucknow have got reliability in Manish Pandey, who can harbour the innings and Evin Lewis, who can chip in with some fireworks. Lewis, primarily an opener, could be slotted at the No. 3 or 4 spot if Rahul and de Kock start the innings.

Lucknow will be without their key overseas players today. They lost England’s Mark Wood due to injury and Andrew Tye was named as his replacement. But the Australian will miss the opener owing to quarantine rules.

Three other foreign players — Marcus Stoinis, Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers — are likely to join the squad next week owing to national duties.

Lucknow have also got a strong top-order pack in skipper Rahul, Quinton de Kock and Evin Lewis. Rahul last year became the first Indian to score 500-plus runs in four consecutive IPL seasons.

Shubman Gill has got enormous responsibility on his shoulders but the youngster remains one of the most promising openers in the T20 league. With the experience of 58 IPL games, Gill comes with the tag of being a powerplay specialist. He’s got 543 runs in first six overs since 2020.

Another key player for Gujarat is David Miller, who has even got the experience of captaining an IPL side. The South African has previously captained Punjab in six games… and he’s also got the ability to shift gears at the death.

As the Titans haven’t got many specialist batters in their weaponry, they would want their wide catalogue of all-rounders to deliver. A lot rests on skipper Hardik, Rahul Tewatia and Vijay Shankar if the top-order falters today.

With Jason Roy out of the competition, Gujarat could open with Shubman Gill and Afghanistan batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who is also a wicketkeeper. The Titans also have Wriddhiman Saha and Matthew Wade to keep the wickets.

KL Rahul(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Manan Vohra, Krunal Pandya, Ankit Rajpoot, Krishnappa Gowtham, Ravi Bishnoi, Dushmantha Chameera, Avesh Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Evin Lewis, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Karan Sharma, Mayank Yadav

Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade(w), Wriddhiman Saha, Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Hardik Pandya(c), Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami, Pradeep Sangwan, Varun Aaron, Jayant Yadav, Vijay Shankar, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Darshan Nalkande, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Dominic Drakes, Sai Sudharsan, Yash Dayal, Noor Ahmad

Asked whether he would bowl again, Hardik had recently said that it would be a surprise. “It would be a surprise, so let it be a surprise,” he had said during the jersey launch of Gujarat Titans.

Hardik was fast-tracked into the Indian limited-overs side after a splendid season with Mumbai Indians back in 2015. So far, he’s got 1476 runs in 92 IPL matches and 42 wickets as well.

Hardik’s last captaincy stint was with India A when he led the side in a first-class game against Australia and the result was drawn. He would eye a winning start today to justify the faith of team management that has splurged ₹15 crore on him as a pre-auction pick.

Hardik has been battling fitness concerns ever since injuring his back in 2019. The GT skipper has said that he’s still a “work in progress”. He is set to embark on a new journey in the IPL that had started with Mumbai Indians back in 2015.

Hardik may haven’t captained an IPL team before but the Baroda all-rounder has plenty of experience playing at the Wankhede. The Titans would heavily rely on him today. It remains to be seen whether the captain chips in with some overs as well.

While Gujarat, owned by CVC Capital, have all-rounder Hardik Pandya in the leadership role, Lucknow Super Giants, backed by Indian tycoon Sanjiv Goenka, have appointed KL Rahul as their captain.

Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the fourth game of IPL 2022 between Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants. It’s a clash between two new entrants, who made the IPL jamboree a ten-team affair for the first time since 2011. The game will be played at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.