Mitchell Marsh‘s maiden IPL century and a collective effort from the bowling group helped Lucknow Super Giants complete a double over Gujarat Titans. Shubman Gill’s men are on top of the points table, but they might miss out on a spot in the top two. Mitchell Marsh scored his maiden IPL hundred, and his second in all T20 cricket, to set the platform for Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) 33-run consolation win over Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad.
Lucknow Super Giants put on a clinical all-round performance to stun Gujarat Titans by 33 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday, May 22. Rishabh Pant’s men, already out of playoff contention, rode on a brutal century from Mitchell Marsh and a disciplined bowling effort to derail Gujarat’s hopes of sealing a top-two finish in the IPL 2025 points table.
Heading into the contest, Gujarat were firm favourites to inch closer to a top-two berth. However, LSG flipped the script with a spirited showing, just days after their playoff dreams were dashed by a defeat to SunRisers Hyderabad in Lucknow.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report : “61m to the western side, 67m to the eastern side, 70m hit down the ground. The surface here has been the most consistent throughout the tournament in terms of pace, bounce. It has been a brilliant surface to bat on. It has produced runs, runs and more runs. Do we expect the same tonight,” . But I think so, let’s ask Murali Kartik. Simon, “I would think you want to take the new nut and have a roll because it looks green from a bit of distance.
This is pitch No. 5 and GT have both their games on it. Average first innings total is 210 and average total in 192 but the important thing is team batting first has won more. It’s the blacksoil from Odisha. It’s pretty hard and rolled in. Fair sprinkling of grass. There will be something for the pacers but I still think runs galore. Won’t be a bad option to bat first,” opines Murali Kartik and Simon Doull in their pitch report.
Toss : Gujarat Titans skipper Shubman Gill won the toss and chose to bowl with no changes in the Playing XI. Lucknow Super Giants skipper Rishabh Pant batting first bought in Akash Deep for Digvesh Singh Rathu alongside Shahbaz Ahmed and Himmat Singh.
Mitchell Marsh’s scintillating 117 runs and Nicholas Pooran’s breezy half century powers LSG to 235 for 2 in 20 overs
LSG openers, who’ve been consistently competent in an otherwise disappointing season for their side, endured a slightly scratchy start even as they scored more than 50. That was largely down to taking 14 off Arshad Khan in the second over and 15 off Kagiso Rabada in the sixth over as Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram smashed three sixes. Besides that, both batters copped body blows off length deliveries that tailed into them, and yet got through the PowerPlay with their unbeaten stand intact.
Gujarat Titans’ decision to bowl first – after Shubman Gill won the toss – seemed to work early on. Aiden Markram and Marsh added a steady 38 runs in the first five overs. But Markram then switched gears, taking on Kagiso Rabada in the final over of the powerplay, lifting LSG to 53 for no loss in six overs.
GT had a slippery start after they won the toss and put LSG in. Arshad Khan slipped twice in his delivery stride in the second over of the innings. Apparently, there was too much grass around the landing area. Two overs later, the ball slipped out of Kagiso Rabada’s hands. Aiden Markram took evasive action but Hawk-Eye deemed it to be a legal delivery.
It showed the ball would have been 1.11 metres high at the batting crease, 2cm below Markram’s waist when standing upright. In between, Marsh and Markram had a few mis-hits and also found some boundaries. By the end of the powerplay, LSG had reached 53 for no loss.
Mitchell Marsh truly cut loose after the fielding restrictions were lifted. The Australian all-rounder took down Prasidh Krishna, Gujarat’s most consistent bowler this season, in a statement seventh over. Spin or pace – it made no difference – Mitchell Marsh showed no mercy, treating both with equal disdain.
For a rare spell this season, Gujarat’s star-studded bowling attack was under serious pressure. It was left-arm spinner Sai Kishore who finally broke the 91-run opening stand, dismissing Markram for a brisk 36 off 24 balls in the 10th over.
For the first time, Mitchell Marsh took his runs tally past 500 runs in an IPL season. To add to GT’s misery, Pooran rekindled his touch that got him and LSG going early in the season before they dipped in unison. In five overs of spin through the middle from Sai Kishore and Rashid, LSG took 70 runs.
Mitchell Marsh settled LSG’s nerves through the middle-overs as he went after Prasidh Krishna and Sai Kishore to bring up a 33-ball half-century in the 10th over with a six. In the same over, the left-arm spinner had Markram caught at long-off for a 23-ball 36 after LSG’s opening pair added its fifth 50-plus stand of the season. Nicholas Pooran walked out and hit his first ball for a six but Mitchell Marsh continued to take centre stage, even smashing Rashid for 25 runs in the 12th over.
The onslaught, however, did not stop. Nicholas Pooran announced his intent immediately, dispatching the first ball he faced to the boundary, signalling that LSG were not done yet. The fireworks only grew louder. Mitchell Marsh went after Rashid Khan in the 12th over, launching two sixes and three fours off the Afghan spinner. The over cost Gujarat 25 runs and tilted the momentum firmly in LSG’s favour.
After blazing away through the middle, the LSG duo took the carnage to the next level as only one over in the last five went for single-digit score. They began with a 20-run over against Siraj in the 16th. Arshad did not concede a six in the 17th and yet went for 14 as Marsh brought up his maiden IPL century.
Mitchell Marsh, who hit 10 boundaries and 8 sixes, brought up his maiden IPL century in just 56 balls. He looked set for a monumental score before falling in the 18th over for a commanding 117 off 64 deliveries. Pooran, meanwhile, kept the scoreboard ticking with a brutal finish. His 27-ball 56, featuring five sixes, gave LSG the final push as they raced past the 230-mark.
In Krishna’s final over, Pooran reached a 23-ball half-century and Mitchell Marsh added two more sixes to his tally. Arshad ended Marsh’s scintillating essay on 117 off 64, but Rishabh Pant walked out and hit two sixes in the 20th over to take his team to a massive 235/2 in 20 overs.
William O Rourke’s 3-fer restricts GT to 202 for 9 to grant LSG an 33 runs win over Gujarat Titans
In the face of a daunting target, Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan went about business as usual to punctuate yet another PowerPlay with a glut of boundaries. The two, who lead the charts for fours this season, started off with intent against Akash Singh and Akash Deep. Sai Sudharsan looked set for another impactful essay until he tamely fell to William O’Rourke by chipping a ball to Markram at mid-off.
Jos Buttler, who is fifth on the aforementioned list of boundary-hitters, flexed his big batting muscles in the final over of the PowerPlay to hit two fours and two sixes off Avesh Khan, who had to bowl the five balls of the over as Akash went off injured after getting hit on his hand on the first delivery.
LSG pricked GT’s season-long consistency. For just the second time this year, each of GT’s top-three fell for a sub-50 score in the same game. Avesh bounced back from the earlier hammering to end Gill’s stay – a sharp catch from Abdul Samad running in from long-off. On return, Akash bowled a fabulous cutter from round the stumps to breach Buttler’s defence, leaving GT down to 97/3 at the halfway stage, leaving the underutilised middle-order to take GT home in a big chase.
Shahrukh Khan and Sherfane Rutherford were up for the challenge, albeit briefly, as they took quick runs off O’Rourke and Akash. Shahbaz Ahmed bowled a good quiet over for seven runs but the two batters made up for it by smashing Avesh for 17 in the 14th over, with two fours from Shahrukh and a flicked six from Rutherford to close it out.
Shahrukh gave Shahbaz the charge on the first ball of his next over to get a six over mid-wicket. Rutherford went a step ahead to cut a shortish ball for a four and then reverse swept one for a six. The pair went into the death overs with GT needing 71 off 30 deliveries.
Shahrukh straightaway put the pressure on the bowling side as he started the 16th over from Akash Deep with a streaky boundary to third man off an outside edge and then tonked a full ball for a six down the ground. Much to the explicit annoyance of Rishabh Pant, Akash Deep followed it with a slow bouncer despite having his third man and fine leg inside the circle.
Shahrukh comfortably upper cut the ball for a four. O’Rourke then turned the tables with a double-wicket over that sent Rutherford and Rahul Tewatia packing. Shahrukh brought up a 22-ball half-century but was left to chase 50 off 18 with the lower-order for company. Shahbaz then dismissed Arshad Khan in the 18th over and Avesh ended Shahrukh’s vigil in the 19th, to effectively bring down the curtains on the chase.With 38 to defend off the last over, Pant threw the ball to Ayush Badoni who picked two wickets and wrapped up a 33-run victory.
The 2022 champions have leaned heavily on their top three – Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, and Jos Buttler – throughout the season. But on the night, none of them managed to convert their starts into a match-defining knock. Shah Rukh Khan impressed with a 29-ball 57 and Sherfane Rutherford chipped in with 38 off 22, but GT never found the Marsh-like innings they needed to climb the Mount 236.
Despite missing key spinner Digvesh Rathi, LSG’s bowling unit stepped up. New Zealand pacer Will O’Rourke was the standout, finishing with figures of 3 for 27 in four overs. Left-arm quick Akash Singh, battling a finger injury, delivered a gutsy spell and removed the dangerous Buttler. Akash went full proxy for Digvesh as he celebrated Buttler’s wicket with the memorable notebook celebration. Avesh Khan also chipped in with two wickets to round off a disciplined bowling effort.
Gujarat Titans remain on top of the points table with 18 points from 13 matches, but the race for the top two is now wide open. Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings – both on 17 points from 12 games – are hot on their heels heading into the final stretch.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Shubman Gill the losing GT skipper said : We gave 15-20 runs extra. Wanted to stop them around 210. Huge difference between 210 and 230. We bowled well in the powerplay, didn’t get any wickets but after the powerplay in the 14 overs they scored around 180 runs which was a lot.
(On the positives) We were right in the game till the 17th over, it was never easy chasing 240. Lots of positives for us – Rutherford and Shahrukh’s batting was a big plus. (Looking forward) Getting back some momentum would be key, would want to get back to winning ways heading into the playoffs.
Rishabh Pant the winning LSG skipper said : Definitely happy. We have shown as a team that we can play good cricket. There was a time in the tournament we had the chances to qualify. But that’s part and parcel of the game. We need to learn and get batter.
Always a question of getting the top three but the way Shahrukh batted it definitely gives hope down the order as well. There was injury concerns coming into the tournament. The way Mitch, Markram, Pooran batted and the whole batting unit in fact. Fielding we made lapses. Learn from it and move forward.
Mitchell Marsh Player of the Match for scintillating 117 runs said : I have had a few years off in between as well (on finally getting his first IPL hundred). First played for the Deccan Chargers in 2010. It’s been a while. Getting an opportunity to open the batting. The partnership with Aiden on and off the field has been amazing. Came to the IPL pretty fresh. They (GT) bowled really well in the powerplay.
If you are 12 off 12 in the powerplay it’s panic stations but once we got a few good partnerships and it made things easy for us. It’s been very disappointing (to not qualify for the playoffs). The IPL is a decent competition. We lost close games and we are out of the race. Any team can beat any team in this competition on a given day, that’s why this is the best competition in the world.
Mitchell Marsh slammed his maiden IPL century and Nicholas Pooran regained his bludgeoning touch as Lucknow Super Giants put the brakes on Gujarat Titans’ top-two charge in a high-scoring fixture in Ahmedabad. LSG’s batting efforts took them to 235/2 but table-toppers GT nearly gave a fitting riposte. Despite fighting efforts from Sherfane Rutherford (38 off 22) and Shahrukh Khan (57 off 29), GT ended 33 runs short in chase.
Sent into bat, LSG rode on Mitchell Marsh’s 117 off 64 balls and Nicholas Pooran’s unbeaten 56 off 27 to post a mammoth 235 for 2 on a high-scoring black-soil surface. In reply, GT lost Shubman Gill, B Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler in 9.3 overs – the earliest that has happened in IPL 2025 – but their largely untested middle order gave LSG a tough fight. Sherfane Rutherford and Shahrukh Khan added 86 in just 40 balls for the fourth wicket.
GT needed 54 in the last four overs with six wickets in hand. But after Will O’Rourke dismissed Rutherford with the first ball of the 17th, the chase petered out. The last four overs produced only 20 and not a single boundary. The defeat also hurt GT’s chances of a top-two finish.
LSG have shown how to stop GT at home. PBKS sure won earlier but GT lost the plot there. Today LSG actually bossed them. The three big pins removed early – Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler. But GT didn’t go down without a fight. In fact Rutherford and Shahrukh Khan shut all doubts of a weak middle-order. With support from Tewatia and Rashid they could have hunted this down as well but was not to be as LSG, despite being a bowler short due to the injury earlier to Akash, kept them calm and stopped GT.
Akash came back on the field with a strapping to his right hand and bowled a great slower ball to get Buttler. Rutherford promised a lot and Shahrukh played some brilliant shots to put pressure back on LSG. Will O’Rourke came back to get rid of Rutherford and then Tewatia as well. Avesh nailed the 19th over to seal the deal for GT.
The death overs. GT went into that phase needing 71 – or four short of how much LSG managed there. But William O’Rourke bowled a double-wicket over to knock the wind out of GT’s sails.
GT may have lost today but Shahrukh’s batting will actually boost their confidence and erase any doubts about a lack of quality in the middle order. And they are lucky to have such a testing game before the playoffs as well. Ahmedabad is dishing out another good T20 game. We still have a league game here against CSK before the highly anticipated playoffs.
GT will take another crack at securing a top-two finish when they host CSK in the afternoon game on Sunday, May 25). LSG will return home and take aim at sullying another team’s top-two aspirations – and an unmatched away record – when they take on RCB on Tuesday (May 27).
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