Pune, May 11 (IANS): Just before he went into bat after skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bat first against Lucknow Super Giants, Gujarat Titans opener Shubman Gill said he has recovered from the slump he had in IPL 2022 after a superb start to the tournament.

And the 22-year-old batter from Punjab proved that he has regained his form and has become the key player for Gujarat Titans as he come up with a brilliant unbeaten 63 to help his team recover from a precarious position to reach 144/4 in 20 overs against Lucknow Super Giants at the MCA Stadium here on Tuesday.

With wickets falling around on a difficult pitch on which the ball was gripping and coming slow off the surface, Gill held the Gujarat innings together, scoring 63 not out off 49 deliveries, hitting seven fours.

The Lucknow bowlers, especially left-arm pacer Mohsin Khan (1/18), Avesh Khan (2/26) and Krunal Pandya (0/24) held Gujarat batters in a stranglehold by bowling superb line and length and keeping the ball within the stumps.

Gill had started off with an 84 against Delhi Capitals and 96 against Punjab Kings, had a few low scores after that and found his touch back in the defeat against Mumbai Indians, scoring 52.

Gill said he had some unfortunate dismissals but was glad to have found his form back in the last few games.

The 22-year-old from Fazilka in Punjab, who started his career idolising batting legend Sachin Tendulkar but became an ardent fan of Virat Kohli after the batting maestro retired, said the next few matches were very important for Gujarat Titans and wants to carry his momentum.

He did just that as he overtook his skipper Hardik Pandya to become the highest run-getter for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022.

Tuesday's unbeaten 63 took him to move to fourth position in the list for most runs with 384 runs in 12 innings.