The fourth IPL group stage match between Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans proved to be an exciting affair on more than one fronts. While fans were amply entertained to the pyrotechnics of some budding youngsters from both the new teams; it was all-rounder Deepak Hooda’s reunion with his ex-Baroda teammate, Krunal Pandya, that emerged as the viral moment of the night.
Hooda and Krunal have a bit of a troubled past
During the first over of Gujarat’s batting, Deepak took a fine catch of Shubman Gill at point to set the tone of LSG’s target defence. It could’ve been somewhat precarious, especially given that Krunal- someone Deepak doesn’t share a good relationship with- was also in contention to claim the catch.
Over the last year and a half, Hooda and Krunal have been involved in an ugly off-field spat that even saw the former leave his domestic Baroda team. Hooda had accused Krunal of being dominating and verbally abusive towards himself, and even escalated the matter directly to the BCCI via a written letter.
But the Baroda cricket association did not take kindly to Hooda’s action, and were quick to suspend him from the team; which ultimately led to him switching over to the Rajasthan state team. Leading upto the IPL, fans were curious to see if and how well Krunal and Deepak would gel together in the same IPL franchise.
However, it seems the two have managed to put aside the bad-blood between themselves- at least for now- as the two worked in perfect unison to claim a clean dismissal of Gill. What’s more, right after the catch, Krunal was seen hugging Hooda passionately!
Hug between Krunal Pandya and Deepak Hooda. pic.twitter.com/m49lTzZYte
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) March 28, 2022
Twitterati celebrates Hooda and Krunal’s rediscovered friendship
And that’s not all- Hooda, Krunal, and KL Rahul, the Lucknow captain, were seen excitedly celebrating together once again when Hooda managed to dismiss Matthew Wade. Unsurprisingly, social media was fast booming with messages and posts celebrating the relationship of these two rivals turned pals.
— Kabira Speaking (@Kricketer1) March 28, 2022
— Nishant Sharma (@srcsmic_enginer) March 28, 2022
— Jatt James bond (@Dhruvaroraaaa) March 28, 2022
As for the match itself, Hooda had quite a fruitful maiden outing with his new IPL franchise, as he notched up a match defining 55 off 41 balls and claimed some key catches and wickets. But more importantly, it was Hooda’s young batting partner, Ayush Badoni (54 off 41), and Gujarat’s Abhinav Manohar (15* off 7)- who undid the effort- who really stole the spotlight with their fine performances.
Mohammed Shami went on to win Player of the Match for his stellar spell of 3/25, as the Titans recorded an impressive 5 wicket win over their newbie rivals.
Brief scores: LSG 158/6 (Hooda 55, Shami 3/25) lost to GT (Tewatia 40*, Chameera 2/22) by 5 wickets.
