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Published : Apr 14, 2025 11:39 IST , Lucknow – 4 MINS READ
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Lucknow Super Giants’ Avesh Khan celebrates after taking the wicket of Gujarat Titans’ Shubman Gill. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
Gujarat Titans was cruising at 120 without loss in 12 overs, with Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan looking set to take the score past 200 against Lucknow at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. However, on the first ball of the 13th over, Gill, on 60, miscued a slower delivery by Avesh Khan, which led to a complete change in Titans’ innings tempo as it finished on 180 for six.
In the first 10 overs, the Titans scored 103, but in the second half, they managed only 77 and lost six wickets. GT’s poor second half with the bat eventually cost it the team the match as Lucknow chased it down comfortably in the last over.
ALSO READ: Faltering Chennai Super Kings takes on Lucknow Super Giants
Teams losing out on good starts in the first innings of the game has been an upcoming trend this season. In 13 out of 29 games in the IPL 2025, teams batting first have lost out on a good start or have only made negligible improvement in the scoring rate in 11-20 overs. Of these 13 games, 11 games have been won by the team that managed to control the scoring rate in the second half of the first innings.
In Saturday’s game at Lucknow, LSG’s Shardul Thakur said the plans changed after the PowerPlay and the strategic timeout when the team decided to use the bigger boundaries.
“PowerPlay is the time when only two fielders are outside the ring, so there’s pressure on bowlers. So, we need to think about how we are bowling and where the runs are coming from. Once the field opens, we get time to think and correct our lengths; we discuss during the strategic timeout, so plan changes, and we get to see changes in the first 10 and last 10 overs,” Shardul explained.
“On this ground, one side was bigger than the other. Due to the afternoon game, the pitch conditions were also dry. So, once the ball got over, we discussed amongst ourselves that we’d try to bring the bigger side into the game. The bowlers executed well,” he added.
In the 29 games, the majority of the pitches have been on the slower side, as per the players and coaches, including Titans’ Parthiv Patel, who acknowledged that the black soil surface on Saturday wasn’t easy to bat.
“No one got out playing the wrong shot. Once the ball got old, the pitch was slow as well, so it wasn’t easy. The batting became tough as the game progressed; we saw that in LSG’s innings as well.”
The old ball has brought reverse swing back into play, allowing pacers to vary their pace more effectively by taking the pace off and bowling into the pitch. Spinners, on the other hand, tend to shorten their lengths in the latter half of the innings. These tactics reflect a clear strategic shift – teams are focusing on controlling the scoring rate above all else, with wickets seen as a welcome bonus.
To come back to Lucknow’s game against Gujarat, LSG pacers – Shardul Thakur, Avesh Khan, and Akash Deep – didn’t get any movement in the first 10 overs, against which Sudharsan and Gill latched on. However, they got the old ball to reverse on 26 occasions and mixed it up well with 10 off-cutters to keep batters in check; combined with the quick spin of Ravi Bishnoi and Digvesh Rathi, the Titans fell 20 runs short of a defendable total.
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IPL 2025 — Slower pitches, smarter plans: How bowlers are owning overs 11-20 in the first innings – Sportstar
