Gujarat Titans (GT) secured their second consecutive win at the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) after beating the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by seven wickets at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Sunday, April 12.
Batting first, LSG never really got going with GT bowlers constantly keeping them in check. The hosts were never able to forge a big enough partnership, with Aiden Markram topping the scoring with just 30 runs. LSG managed to score 164 from their 20 overs, thanks to George Linde and Mohammed Shami’s power hitting towards the end.
In reply, GT chased down the total with relative ease, riding on Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler’s half-centuries to win by seven wickets with eight balls to spare. The duo forged an 84-run partnership for the second wicket to make sure that the 2022 champions were never really in danger of losing the tie.
The win now takes GT up to fifth in the standings, surpassing LSG due to a better net run-rate.
Talking Points
1) What is wrong with Kagiso Rabada?
Kagiso Rabada is widely regarded as one of the better bowlers in the modern era. The South African, however, has been struggling recently in the shortest format of the game. The 30-year-old took just five wickets at the 2026 T20 World Cup at an economy rate of 8.13.
He has also not started IPL 2026 in good fashion. The right-arm pacer has bowled at an economy rate of 11.37 from the first five games and has picked up as many wickets. Today was the seventh time Rabada has conceded more than 50 runs in an IPL game. Is it time for GT to replace him with an in-form Jason Holder?
2) Nicholas Pooran needs to get out of first gear
Nicholas Pooran is well-renowned for his power-hitting in T20 cricket, having a strike-rate of 147.69 in his career. The former West Indies star has been in some underwhelming form to begin the 2026 IPL season. With his score of 19 today against GT, Pooran has scored just 60 runs from five outings.
Before coming out to bat today in Lucknow, Pooran’s strike-rate at this year’s tournament was just 85.41. The left-hander needs to make sure that he breaks the shackles going forward and return to his former self.
3) Jos Buttler – Form is temporary, class is permanent
There were a lot of question marks surrounding Jos Buttler’s form heading into the 2026 IPL. The former England captain scored just 87 runs from eight innings at an average of just 10.87 at the 2026 T20 World Cup.
The 35-year-old, however, showed why he is one of the best overseas players in IPL history with yet another half-century to his name, adding to the 52 he scored against the Delhi Capitals in the previous game. In reaching his 50, Buttler reached two monumental milestones. He went to score his 100th half-century in T20 cricket whilst surpassing 14,000 runs in the shortest format.
Who said what
Rishabh Pant, Lucknow Super Giants captain:
“See, definitely not enough runs. There’s nothing. from the fact that they bowled well. I think in a wicket like this, a score like 170 to 180 is a really good score. But, you know, the wicket kept on falling and they put enough pressure on us to get those wickets going. See, definitely in a wicket like this, like I said, 170 to 180 is a good score. But at the same time, you know, you still have opportunities. I wouldn’t say I’m a hard guy. So there were opportunities in the game. We just couldn’t grab it enough. (Talks about the batting line-up) See, definitely it’s a great lineup. But the tournament has just started here, you know. We’re not putting pressure on players because especially the senior guys, they know what to do. Yeah, there are times when you perform and you just couldn’t. But at the same time, you know, the trust and belief in the camp is enough. And we know he’s going to come soon enough. It’s always positive.”
Shubman Gill, Gujarat Titans captain:
“The way we bowled in the powerplay was vey impressive and how we kept up the pressure in the middle overs was tremendous. [On Rashid Khan] Makes my life very easy, the way Rashid is bowling at the moment. Getting us back in the game every time another bowler is under pressure. [On Siraj] I think in the first six overs it’s very difficult to do the simple things so it’s important to come back and think what are the simple things I can do in the moment and I think in this match he did that really well. That got us back in the game, the way Siraj bowled. And even KG, he went for runs but he was spot on with the lengths. [On the surface] Yeah it wasn’t easy to bat on. I feel we gave a few extra runs towards the end but we would have taken that score. [On batting form] Back-to-back fifties for me and Jos, so very happy to be in form.”
Prasidh Krishna, Player of the Match:
“I think the most important thing was the victory for us. I am just here taking the laurels of all the pressure created by all the other bowlers. [Mixing pace-off with pace-on balls] Definitely you need to bowl a lot of them in the nets and feel good about it before bringing it out in a game. It was a little tiring, playing the afternoon game.”
