IPL 2024: Thakur claims first five-wicket haul of the season as Lucknow win

Indian seam bowler Yash Thakur took the first five-wicket haul of this year's IPL as he led Lucknow Super Giants to victory over Gujarat Titans on Sunday.

Thakur returned with figures of 5-30 to help bowl out Gujarat for 130 in their chase of 164 as hosts Lucknow won by 33 runs in the 21st match of this edition of the T20 tournament.

The 25-year-old Thakur, who is yet to play an international, wrapped up the match with two wickets in the 19th over as Lucknow beat Gujarat for the first time in five attempts in IPL.

"We will take the win. Not going to make too much out of it. For the young bowing group we have, helps when we bat first and they can assess the conditions. They have been adapting really well, so credit to them," LSG skipper KL Rahul said after the match.

Marcus Stoinis hit 58 to guide Lucknow to 163-5, a total which looked below-par but the Lucknow bowlers, including spinner Krunal Pandya who took three wickets, made sure it was enough.

Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi took a stunning return catch off his own leg-spin to dismiss Gujarat's impact substitute Kane Williamson for one.

Left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya, elder brother of Mumbai's Hardik Pandya, struck twice in one over including the wicket of Sai Sudarshan for 31 to derail the opposition chase.

Thakur then bowled a double wicket maiden over to flatten the batting and went to take his first-ever five wicket haul in T20 cricket.

Lucknow have never lost a game while defending a 160 plus score.

"It is a good record to have. But it is where we have played. We know how the wickets were, very low-scoring wicket and low-scoring ground. Having the home advantage obviously helps a bit," Rahul said.

"The same guys were playing last season as well, they have adjusted their roles and they are reading the wicket well. That is something I try to speak to them about in the nets and in practice, to help them make the right choices when the pressure is on. Hopefully we can continue."

Meanwhile, Titans captain Shubman Gill blamed the batsmen for the team's third defeat in five matches.

"I think it was a good wicket to bat on. just a poor batting performance by us. We got off to a decent start but we lost it in the middle overs and were never able to recover from that," the opening batter said.

"I think our bowlers were exceptional to restrict them to that score. We were looking at 170-180 but to restrict them, it was a tremendous effort."

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