AHMEDABAD: Mitchell Marsh struck his first Indian Premier League century as Lucknow Super Giants pulled off an upset 33-run win against table-toppers Gujarat Titans on Thursday.
Marsh smashed 117 off 64 balls studded with 10 fours and eight sixes to help Lucknow post a formidable 235-2 off 20 overs.
Gujarat, who have already qualified for the playoffs, could only make 202-9 in reply at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
“We gave 15-20 runs extra. If we’d stopped them at 210-220 it would’ve been better, that was a huge difference,” said Gujarat skipper Shubman Gill.
“Getting momentum back will be key in the next game.”
Lucknow were playing for pride after being eliminated from the playoffs.
Gujarat lost in-form opener and the tournament’s highest run-getter Sai Sudharsan for 21, caught by Aiden Markram off Will O’Rourke, who ended with figures of 3-27.
Sudharsan’s opening partner Gill looked in good touch before he was caught in the deep by Abdul Samad off Avesh Khan for 35.
Jos Buttler (33) tried to steady the innings but was dismissed by Akash Singh in the 10th over.
Shahrukh Khan (57) and Sherfane Rutherford (38) revived hopes of a comeback but O’Rourke took two wickets in the 17th over to seal Gujarat’s fate.
“We had a lot of fun out there, T20 is fickle,” said O’Rourke.
Earlier, Marsh combined with Markram to give Lucknow a steady start, putting on 91 runs for the opening wicket after Gujarat won the toss and elected to bowl.
Markram (36) hit fellow South African Kagiso Rabada for two sixes in a row before being caught by Shahrukh near the boundary off Sai Kishore.
Marsh continued his onslaught at the other end, hitting Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan for 25 runs in his first over of the game.
The right-hander, who raced to his century off just 56 balls, was finally caught by a diving Rutherford off paceman Arshad Khan for 117.
Nicholas Pooran also impressed, making an unbeaten 56 runs off 27 balls with four fours and five sixes.
Lucknow’s struggling skipper Rishabh Pant made 16 not out.
The IPL resumed last Saturday after being paused due to a deadly conflict between India and Pakistan, forcing overseas players to revisit their season plans.
