"Should be nowhere near India's captaincy debate!" - Fans slam captain KL Rahul as Rahul Tewatia sinks LSG in IPL 2022

KL Rahul didn't have the best of days as captain as the Gujarat Titans (GT) beat the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in thrilling fashion in the end with a couple of deliveries to spare.

All-rounder Rahul Tewatia once again won the game almost single-handedly for his IPL team, showing why he was paid big bucks in the IPL 2022 auction. Fans on Twitter trolled LSG and KL Rahul for bottling their target defense despite having GT in a spot of bother with five overs to go.

Here are some of the reactions:

KL Rahul giving Deepak Hooda the 16th over proved to be a turning point

Despite Mohammed Shami running through the LSG top order with the new ball, Deepak Hooda and Ayush Badoni scored crucial half-centuries that helped their team recover brilliantly to post a fighting total of 158/6 in their 20 overs.

The total still looked a bit under par and the LSG bowlers needed early wickets to keep themselves in the game. They did exactly that as Shubman Gill was dismissed in the first over and Vijay Shankar soon followed.

Skipper Hardik Pandya and Matthew Wade consolidated GT's chase. But just when it looked like the duo would tee off, LSG's slower bowlers pulled things back nicely. Krunal Pandya and Deepak Hooda were brilliant with the ball as GT were in deep trouble needing 69 off the last five overs.

However, Rahul Tewatia had other ideas as he cashed-in on Hooda's third over. Many believe that with four overs of pace left, it was a blunder from Rahul to give the part-timer the third over. 40 runs of the 16th and the 17th over together broke the chase open for GT.

Although GT lost David Miller, young Abhinav Manohar showed why he is highly rated. The 27-year-old showed no signs of nerves on his IPL debut as he smashed three boundaries in the seven balls that he faced.

Tewatia had the last laugh as he smashed the ball to the boundary and handed GT their first win of the season. LSG and KL Rahul will rue their poor death bowling as that was what cost them the game.

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