Gujarat Titans continue to love life in their debut season of the IPL chalking up their 6th win in 7 games as they saw off an Andre Russell led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) charge to win by 8 runs. Andre Russell, who was caught out at 4 but got a reprieve because youngster Yash Dayal overstepped, nearly got KKR across the line before getting dismissed thanks to Kiwi Lockie Ferguson’s brilliance in the field.
Chasing a modest target of 157 set by Gujarat Titans, KKR looked to be out of it having lost 4 wickets for 34 in the face of some excellent bowling by Mohammed Shami, Yash Dayal and Lockie Ferguson. However, Rinku Singh, getting a rare game today, and Venkatesh Iyer put together a 45 runs partnership to keep them in the game before Andre Russell arrived. An explosive 48 off 25 balls from Russell punctuated with 6 sixes looked to be pushing KKR towards an unlikely win before Lockie Ferguson took an excellent catch at fine leg to end KKR’s hopes.
Earlier in the day, Gujarat chose to bat after winning the toss but lost their star opener Shubman Gill early. Veteran Wriddhiman Saha and Captain Hardik Pandya got them back on track though with a 75 runs 2nd wicket partnership, which was followed by another 50 runs partnership between Pandya and South African David Miller. However, Miller’s wicket derailed the Gujarat innings though as they mustered only 30 runs from their last 5 overs for the loss of 7 wickets. Hardik Pandya ended up top-scoring for them with a 49-balls 67.
Tim Southee, replacing Australian captain Pat Cummins, was the standout bowler for KKR as he ended up with 3 for 24 from his 4 overs, while Andre Russell made merry at the death picking up 4 wickets in the 20th over to end up with figures of 4 for 5.
However, the excellent fightback by KKR bowlers at the death wasn’t enough as Gujarat once again found a way to somehow win a game, as they have often done in this IPL. They sit pretty on top of the IPL table now having won 6 out of their 7 games, while KKR is now in the 7th spot, having lost 4 in a row.
