Krunal Pandya didn’t shy away from accepting that Lucknow Super Giants conceded too many runs and that allowed Gujarat Titans to run away with the game. In the battle of the brothers, it was Hardik Pandya who walked away with bragging rights, with the Titans all bun confirming their spot in the playoffs.

“We gave too many runs in the first innings. When it's 227, you have to go hard every over. The surface played really well. The batters said it was a good wicket to bat on. Had we restricted them to 200-210, we would have had a chance,” said Krunal after Lucknow lost the game by 56 runs on Sunday (May 8).

They now have five wins and a no-result in 11 games, but this was still a special game for the Pandya family. The siblings, who are literally the products of the IPL, are the ambassadors of the changing dynamics of Indian cricket and how the sport has been democratised for good. Them leading the two IPL sides tells a story of its own. 

“God has been kind to us, our family is proud, Mom is happy. She said at the end of the day, two points will come home only. There is so much of love between me and Hardik, there's hardly any banter,” expressed Krunal.

Meanwhile, Hardik said: “I don't think so, my love towards him (Krunal) is very strong, I won't be bragging. It would have been nice if it was a little tighter and we had won, he could have also had some bragging rights.”

Asked to bat, Wriddhiman Saha (43-ball 81) and Shubman Gill (51-ball 94*) put on 142 runs for the opening wicket, while Hardik and David Miller also chipped in with fiery cameos. In reply, Quinton de Kock (41-ball 70) and Kyle Mayers (32-ball 48) added 88 runs for the opening wicket, but a good running catch from Rashid ended the latter’s stay at the crease. 

Once Mayers was dismissed, Mohit Sharma and Co. dismantled LSG’s middle-order and restricted them to 171/7. "The way the game changed after that (Rashid's catch)… at one point of time at the eighth or ninth over we were even-stevens but that catch just changed the momentum and we were able to squeeze in a couple of tight overs," Hardik said after the match. 

"And after that I think they were chasing the game more than us. We started controlling the game. Before that they were taking [us] on and we had to chase the game and make sure that we don't concede as many runs and let them get into the game. So I think that catch was match-changing.

"I think we both were driving at 100 kilometers per hour as a team but I think that bump in their innings cost them the game and got us back in the game."

Gill missed out on a century, but along with Saha, batted Lucknow out of the contest. It was Saha who did most of the scoring in the powerplay but Gill too picked up the pace and smoked two fours and seven maximums during his stay in the middle. 

“I didn't get much to bat in the first few overs but it is important to not get carried away with what your partner is doing. I had not hit sixes in the last two matches and today I struck a few, I always keep working on my skills,” said Gill, who was named Player of the Match.