With the help of Vijay Shankar’s stormy half-century, Gujarat Titans defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by seven wickets with 13 balls to spare here on Saturday and secured the first position in the points table of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Gujarat Titans had a target of 180 runs. In-form opener Shubman Gill got them off to a solid start, scoring 49 off 35 balls with eight fours. After this, Vijay Shankar showed his mettle and scored an unbeaten 51 off 24 balls with the help of two fours and five sixes.
He meanwhile stitched an unbroken 87-run partnership off 39 balls with David Miller (32 not out off 18 balls) as Gujarat reached the target in 17.5 overs losing three wickets. Earlier, Rahmanullah Gurbaz played a stormy inning of 81 runs in 39 balls with the help of five fours and seven sixes. Apart from him, Andre Russell scored 34 runs in 19 balls in the last over which included two fours and three sixes. Despite this, KKR could only manage 179 runs for seven wickets due to losing wickets at regular intervals. Mohammed Shami was the most successful bowler from Gujarat. He took three wickets for 33 runs.
Apart from him, Noor Ahmed (2/21) and Josh Little (2/25) also took wickets. This is Gujarat’s sixth win in 8 matches, taking it to 12 points. KKR suffered their sixth defeat in nine matches, making it extremely difficult for them to reach the playoffs. Gill hit a flurry of fours at the start of the power play. These include four fours in Harshit Rana’s over. Wriddhiman Saha (10), however, could not give him good support again. Titans scored 52 runs for one wicket in the first six overs. The first six of Gujarat’s innings was hit by Hardik Pandya (26 off 20 balls) on Sunil Narine in the 10th over, but Harshit cooled his temper by getting him out lbw.
After this, Narayan did not allow Gill to complete his half-century. Gill and Pandya shared a 50-run partnership for the second wicket. The Gujarat team scored 77 runs in the middle nine overs, including two consecutive sixes by Miller off Suyash Sharma. Vijay Shankar hit three sixes in the 17th over of Varun Chakraborty’s innings and then equalized the score by sending Nitish Rana’s ball for six runs. Earlier, the start of the match was delayed by 45 minutes due to wet outfield. Put in to bat first, KKR scored 61 for two in the power play thanks to Gurbaj’s ability to play long shots.
Hardik Pandya’s decision to handle the new ball himself did not prove to be correct. First N Jagadishan (19 off 15 balls) hit him for three consecutive fours while Gurbaj hit two sixes in his next over. Gurbaz then hit Shami and his Afghanistan teammate Rashid for sixes. Meanwhile, Shami got Jagdishan caught lbw and Shardul Thakur caught by Mohit Sharma. KKR’s decision to send Shardul at number three did not prove right as he could not even open the account. After this the run rate slowed down a bit but Gurbaj managed to complete his half-century off 27 balls.
Little meanwhile bowled tight and rattled the KKR middle order by dismissing Venkatesh Iyer (11) and skipper Nitish Rana (four) in the space of three balls. Gurbaj and Rinku Singh hit long shots on loose balls in the middle as KKR managed to score 73 runs in the middle nine overs. However, after this we went back to the pavilion with efforts from Watan Noor Ahmed and Rashid. Leg-spinner Noor Ahmed then ended Rinku’s innings as well, who scored 19 off 20 balls. Russell hit two sixes on Rashid. He hit the bowler for a six and a four before getting out on the last ball of Shami’s innings. David Weiss remained unbeaten after scoring eight runs.
