When Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) had no hope left after losing their top four, Deepak Hooda came in as a saving grace as he slammed a gusty half-century against Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Lucknow had lost skipper KL Rahul, keeper Quinton de Kock, Evin Lewis and Manish Pandey in quick succession and the side was looking like they could not even reach the 100-run mark.
However, Deepak Hooda, along with Ayush Badoni made sure they rescued their side and keep rotating the strike. As soon as Hooda scored his half-century, he raised his bat to the dugout.
He, however, became the victim of Rashid Khan's splendid bowling as he departed for 55 runs. Seeing the way the all-rounder batted got netizens showering praises on him. However, many even blamed the Gujarat bowler as they had wanted to see Hooda bat alongside Krunal Pandya.
Krunal Pandya-Deepak Hooda issue:
Deepak Hooda had accused his Baroda captain Krunal Pandya of abusing him before the start of India's domestic season 2020-21. He was suspended by the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) for the whole domestic season after he had walked out of the team alleging misbehaviour on the part of Baroda captain Krunal Pandya.
"At this moment, I am demoralised, depressed and under pressure. As from last some days, my team captain Mr. Krunal Pandya is using abusive language to me in front of my teammates and also other state teams who have come for participation at Reliance Stadium Vadodara,” Hooda had written in a letter to the BCA.
Earlier, Mohammed Shami rattled up the Lucknow batting line-up sending KL Rahul for a duck and Quinton de Kock for just seven runs. He had later come in to bowl out Manish Pandey who could manage to score only six runs.
