Clinical Gujarat outplay Kolkata to tighten grip on top spot in IPL

Gujarat Titans (GT) got rewarded for sticking to their calm, low-risk approach with the bat by registering a 39-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens on Monday.

On a slow pitch, GT posted a competitive 198/3 and then restricted an out of sorts KKR to 159/8 and maintain their pole position in the points table.

Captain Shubman Gill’s excellent 90 off 55 balls spearheaded GT’s batting efforts. He shared a 114-run opening partnership with B Sai Sudharsan, who hit 52 off 36 balls and became the tournament’s new leading run-getter. Jos Buttler provided for finishing touches with his unbeaten 41 off 23 balls.

Despite concerns about GT’s score and lack of risk taking, their relentless bowling attack, led by Prasidh Krishna and Rashid Khan taking two wickets each, proved to be decisive for the visitors’ to secure a clinical win — their sixth victory of the ongoing season.

Pushed into batting first, GT had a sedate start as Sudharsan smartly cut and then brought out a gorgeous cover drive to take two boundaries off Vaibhav Arora in the third over.

Gill got going by slicing Harshit Rana for consecutive fours, before greeting Varun Chakaravarthy with another slice fetching him yet another boundary as GT ended power-play at 46/0.

After that, Gill upped his attacking game by dancing down the pitch and smacking Moeen Ali for six, before flicking and sweeping for consecutive fours.

Gill and Sudharsan continued to bat effortlessly against Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine and Harshit Rana.

After Gill reached his third fifty of this season off 34 balls, Sudharsan brought up his fifth half-century of the tournament off 33 balls in the same over, as their opening stand went past hundred.

KKR’s move to bring in Andre Russell brought them immediate reward as Sudharsan went for a cut off the short ball, but only managed to get a faint edge and give regulation catch for keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the 13th over.

Buttler hit the ground running with five boundaries in his 12 balls – coming off a pull, a drive over extra cover, a scoop over third man, a top-edge on reverse sweep and Arora dropping the catch off his drive at mid-off, as the ball ran away to the fence.

Gill upped his strike-rate by tonking and pulling Chakaravarthy for consecutive boundaries, before slog-sweeping Narine for six. He then pulled and sliced Arora for six and four, before whipping straight to forward diving cow corner for 90.

Despite Rahul Tewatia holing out to deep cover off Rana, Buttler hit three boundaries in the last two overs, as 59 runs came off the last five overs.

In the chase, KKR’s change at the top-order didn’t work as Mohammed Siraj trapped Rahmanullah Gurbaz lbw in the opening over, with the batter burning a review as well. Ajinkya Rahane continued his good run by flicking, ramping, flat-batting and driving to fetch four quick boundaries.

Though Sunil Narine tried to break free by whacking a four and six off Siraj, he pulled straight to deep backward square leg off Rashid, as KKR ended power-play at 45/2.

With the ball gripping and holding along with variable bounce in play, it meant GT spinners’ were very disciplined in keeping KKR at a tight leash, as they didn’t concede a boundary from overs 5-10.

Rahane finally got a move on when he lofted and pulled Washington Sundar for four and six. Despite Venkatesh Iyer holing out to deep mid-wicket off R Sai Kishore, Rahane went on to bring up his fifty off 36 balls.

Shortly after, he reached out to a quicker wide ball off Washington Sundar, but missed it and was duly stumped by Jos Buttler.

Though Andre Russell swung hard to get his boundaries, he along with Ramandeep Singh and Moeen Ali fell without doing much – two of which were bagged by Krishna - as the match eventually went in a rampaging GT’s favour.

Agencies

Brief Scores:

Gujarat Titans 198/3 in 20 overs (Shubman Gill 90, B Sai Sudharsan 52; Andre Russell 1-13, Vaibhav Arora 1-44) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 159/8 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 50, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 27 not out; Prasidh Krishna 2-25, Rashid Khan 2-25) by 39 runs