LSG vs GT IPL 2024: Bowlers Day Out

Lucknow: Lucknow Super Giants bowler Yash Thakur with teammates celebrates the wicket of GT batter Vijay Shankar during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 T20 cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium, in Lucknow, Sunday, April 7, 2024. (PTI Photo/Ravi Choudhary) (PTI04_07_2024_000392B)

It was a Sunday meant for bowlers in the Nawabi city of Lucknow. The balmy evening at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium witnessed a relatively low scoring IPL fixture where the swingers and spinners dominated over the hitters and smashers. And one young man, Yash Thakur in particular, had a field day.

Yash Thakur, 25 years old, playing in only his second season of IPL picked up 5 wickets in the match between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Gujarat Titans (GT) in Lucknow. His bowling figures at the end of the match stood at 3.5 overs, 1 maiden, 5 wickets for 30 runs and an economy rate of 7.82.

This being IPL 2024’s first 5 wicket haul, Yash Thakur with a career best performance now leads the list of best bowling figures for the season. Mustafizur Rahman of CSK and Gerald Coetzee of MI have 4 wicket hauls.

Yash’s senior team mate, the much-experienced, Krunal Pandya picked up 3 GT wickets at the same match on Sunday. Pandya was miserly with giving runs away, he spared just 11 in his 4 over spell at an economy of 2.75.

The third LSG bowler who would long remember the Sunday fixture is Ravi Bishnoi. Bishnoi caught and bowled Kane Williamson in an exceptional display of reflex calisthenics. The spinner, bowling his second delivery of the innings, jumped almost half his height to the right and latched onto a speeding ball that Williamson was trying to despatch to the fence. Television replays calculated his reaction time at just about half a second.

In comparison to the LSG bowling feats the GT bowlers did not have any standout achievement, other than restricting the team from the city of Nawabs to a conservative total. Lucknow Super Giants, with the help of their bowlers, lived up to the promise of the message that their fans had put up around the stadium. A reflection of the graceful culture of Lucknow, ‘Adab Se Harayenge’, rang so true at the 21st match of Tata IPL 2024 where LSG defeated GT with so much ‘Tehzeeb’.