By Prakash Nair 
Lucknow, April 12: Shubman Gill read the pitch right. He won the toss, looked at the Ekana surface, and bowled. No speech about conditions, no grand tactical announcement. Just a captain backing his gut, and by the end of the evening, that gut feeling backed by a career-best four-wicket haul from Prasidh Krishna had translated into a 7-wicket win with 8 balls to spare.
Gujarat Titans beat Lucknow Super Giants in a match that was, honestly, far less competitive than the scoreline even suggests. Prasidh Krishna did the damage with the ball. LSG were strangled in the first innings, never really found their footing, and then watched Gill and company knock off the target with the kind of measured calm that makes chasing look unfairly easy.
LSG’s two-match winning streak is over. The home fortress, such as it was, has fallen again and it was Prasidh Krishna who kicked the door in first.
Prasidh Krishna Took the Game Away Before GT Even Batted
LSG came into this one riding genuine momentum. Back-to-back last-ball wins, a dressing room buzzing, a home crowd that had waited to see what this team could do at Ekana. For about six overs, it looked like they might deliver.
Mitchell Marsh gave them a flying start, 11 off just four balls, before Kagiso Rabada ended it with a back-of-length delivery that held in the surface and drew a mistimed aerial shot. Rishabh Pant counter-attacked with 18 off 11, taking Rabada for runs before Mohammed Siraj got his revenge. At 60 for 2 after the powerplay, LSG had their best powerplay score of the season. The crowd sensed something.
What followed made that powerplay feel like a mirage.
Siraj was given a third consecutive over an unusual call, and it paid off immediately. Pant tried to loft a delivery that was not quite full enough. The ball swirled high toward the cover region, where Rahul Tewatia held his nerve and pouched a well-judged catch moving to his left. The captain gone for 18. And from there, it became Prasidh Krishna’s afternoon.
He removed Aiden Markram and Ayush Badoni in quick succession, using hard length and bounce that the Ekana track was quietly offering. Nicholas Pooran tried two boundaries off Rashid Khan, a brief moment of resistance but then holed out to Krishna, who finished with 4 for 28. Career-best figures. Purple Cap, too, just to round things off.
At 131 for 7 in the 19th over, LSG were not just losing. They were dissolving. George Linde hit 16 off 10 at the death, and Mohammed Shami of all people launched Ashok Sharma for a six and a four in the final over, helping LSG scramble past 160. They finished at 164 for 8. It felt about 20 runs short and everyone in the ground knew it.
Gill Made It Look Easy. That Was the Problem for LSG.
Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill opened without urgency and without risk. They picked their shots, found boundaries when they wanted them, and simply refused to let the asking rate build into something threatening.
Then came the 5th over. Gill took on Shami the man LSG were banking on for early wickets and smashed him for 20 runs. One over. The chase effectively changed shape in one over. When your most dangerous bowler goes for 20 in a single powerplay over while chasing 165, the match is already tilting hard in one direction.
Digvesh Rathi brought LSG back into it, at least briefly Sudharsan went for the sweep in the 6th over and miscued it to short fine leg. The crowd roared. Rathi celebrated with his signature flair. For a moment, there was something to play for.
Gill was not bothered. He brought up his fifty and kept going, with Buttler alongside him building exactly the kind of partnership LSG’s bowlers had no real answer to. The required run rate never climbed above something manageable. There was no crisis, no drama, no moment where GT looked anything other than firmly in control.
The Brief Flutter That Did Not Matter
With 29 needed from 24 balls, Gill fell, surprised by a sharp bouncer from Prince Yadav. A delivery later, Buttler was holed out in the deep off Shami. Two wickets in two overs. The scoreboard said GT still needed 29. The Ekana crowd found its voice again.
It did not last. Washington Sundar and Glenn Phillips came in and knocked off the remaining runs without ceremony. GT crossed the line with 8 balls remaining, 7 wickets in hand, and a level of comfort that would have infuriated LSG’s support staff watching from the dugout.
This was not a close game that GT squeezed. It was a game GT controlled in both innings, from the first over Rabada bowled to the last run Sundar nudged into the off-side.
Two Very Different Conclusions to Draw From This
For the Gujarat Titans, something is solidifying. Two wins now in four very different matches, a one-run thriller at Arun Jaitley, and now a composed, professional dismantling at Ekana. Prasidh Krishna has claimed the Purple Cap with this four-wicket haul, and he looks like a different bowler from the one who was inconsistent in patches last season. Gill is captaining with clarity. The middle order, which was a legitimate concern after the first two games, did not even need to be tested today.
GT are up to 4 points from 4 matches and, more importantly, they are starting to look like a team with a plan rather than a collection of talented individuals hoping it clicks.
For LSG, the same old question resurfaces, and this time, there is no Mukul Choudhary cameo to paper over it. Their poor home record at Ekana was a known problem heading into today. They had been bowled out for 141 in their first home game of the season against DC. Today, they managed 164 for 8, which is better, but the underlying collapse through the middle overs told the same story.
When Pant goes early, and when the middle order cannot build partnerships in conditions that are not in their favour, there is a fragility to this LSG batting lineup that their away form has been hiding. On the road, with pressure chases and nothing to lose, they are electric. At home, setting targets, they look uncertain of their own identity.
Pant will know this. His coaching staff certainly will. The next home game at Ekana will be a real test of whether this has been addressed or just glossed over.
Still, one result does not undo two genuinely extraordinary wins. LSG are still in the tournament. They are still a dangerous side when the game is in the balance. They just need to figure out why their own ground keeps bringing out a different, lesser version of themselves.
For Shubman Gill, today was exactly what he needed. Not another last-ball nerve-shredder. Just a clean, well-executed win that confirmed the DC result was not a fluke. Gujarat Titans are building. Quietly, methodically but building nonetheless.
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- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
