Massive win for GT
A comprehensive win for GT, who were already top of the table. Their top three continue to do the heavy lifting with the bat before the bowlers put in another stellar performance. We leave you with a teaser from our report. See you tomorrow.
Despite losing the last time they batted first, Gujarat Titans stuck with their tried and tested method of starting calmly, assessing the conditions and minimising risk. The result this time was a total of 198 for 3 on a tricky surface, a total they defended with ease against Kolkata Knight Riders to consolidate their lead at the top of the table.
Led by Shubman Gill’s 90 off 55, the GT top three again did the bulk of the scoring, scoring 183 runs among them, after the second-slowest powerplay of this IPL for a side not losing a wicket. On a pitch that had just enough to discourage fluent stroke-play, Gill and B Sai Sudharsan relied on rotation of strike and the occasional onslaught. They added 114 for the first wicket before Jos Buttler provided the finishing touches with 41 off 23.
There were still doubts if GT had left a few runs out in the middle, but their relentless bowling extracted enough from the pitch to vindicate the batting approach and set up a big win by 39 runs.
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Rashid gets Russell for the sixth time
With 17 runs needed over the last five overs, Rashid Khan comes back and frustrates Andre Russell into skipping down the track, something he extremely rarely does. He is good enough to get Russell stumped as he slows it down and gets lovely dip on the ball.
Rashid vs Russell in all T20s: 63 balls, 94 runs, 6 wickets. Game over for KKR with 81 required off 25.
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91 needed off last six
Andre Russell has given KKR some hope with an early four and six off Washington Sundar, but Sai Kishore has come back with the 14th over without a boundary. In the last five, GT have two each from Prasidh Krishna and Rashid Khan, one from Mohammed Siraj, and then three options for the one remaining over.
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Rahane gets to fifty, and then gone
It has taken Ajinkya Rahane 36 balls to get to his fifty, but he has had little support from the other end. Rahane's is pretty much the going pace this match. Gill took 34 balls, Sudharsan 33, to get to fifty. However, Gill turned it into a much quicker 90. Rahane is stumped on an even 50. Washington Sundar bowls a lovely quick wide as he sees Rahane charge at him. It's 91 for 4 in 12.3 overs. Andre Russell left with too much to do again?
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Has Venkatesh ended a match-losing innings?
Venkatesh Iyer is gone for 14 off 19. And he is gone the first time he relaly plays a shot in anger. He walks back disgusted with himself. He has just not got any loose balls, and the pitch is just about tricky enough to discourage him taking risks. He finally slog-sweeps Sai Kishore, but finds deep midwicket to perfection. KKR 85 for 3 in 11.4. In comes Rinku Singh.
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Finally a boundary
34 Number of balls between boundaries for KKR, between 4.2 and 10.1. In that period the asking rate has gone up from around 10 to 13. It is Ajinkya Rahane manging the runs. Venkatesh Iyer is completely stuck on 12 off 17.
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Where are the boundaries?
28 Number of consecutive balls without a boundary at the end of the ninth over. KKR only 61 for 2.
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GT stifle KKR
Once Rashid Khan gets the wicket of Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer and Ajinkya Rahane have gone into their shells. At the end of the eighth over, it has been 22 straight balls without a boundary. They are not taking any chances either. KKR 53 for 2 in eight overs, and need something to happen soon.
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Rashid has an early wicket
Just the bit of luck Rashid Khan has been waiting for? Only his fifth wicket, but it has come only three balls into his spell here. He comes onto bowl the final over of the powerplay, Narine goes deep in the crease to pull but finds the man at backward nsquare leg in the circle. KKR 43 for 2 in 5.3.
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Rahane gets into his work
GT have tried bowling hard lengths in the powerplay, and they have managed to keep Sunil Narine below a run a ball. Ajinkya Rahane, though, is continuing his excellent season with the bat, especially against pace. He has 19 off 12, KKR are 29 for 1 in four overs.
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Gurbaz goes early
The change at the top hasn't worked for KKr. Mohammed Siraj has got Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the first over. The wobble-seam ball has trapped Gurbaz on the crease. Hitting top of leg. Gurbaz burns a review with him. KKR 2 for 1 in 0.5.
Siraj now has 12 wickets. That's joint-second highest this IPL.
Correction: not a wobble-seam ball. The seam is up for an outswinger, but it nips back in. Not much you can do with it as a batter.
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Ishant in, Rutherford out
GT have seen the ball grip for the tall Harshit Rana, and accordingly they have gone for Ishant Sharma ahead of Arshad Khan as the Impact Player. Mohammed Siraj to start us off against Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sunil Narine.
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Did GT attack enough?
In the last two seasons, in the games with totals ranging from 170 to 210, teams attacking fewer than 40% of balls have won nine and lost 12 matches. Teams attacking more than 40% of balls have won 14 and lost seven. In this game, GT attacked just 41 balls, roughly 34%.
Let's see how they go this time, but GT haven't given themselves a great target to defend. At the same time, they have made sure they are not bowled out for a no-contest score.
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GT post 198
Only the second time this IPL that a team batting first has lost three or fewer wickets. Speaks to the amount of risks taken. Will GT be left to rue it because in the last match at Eden Gardens, 238 was nearly chased down.
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Gill falls for 90
Shubman Gill has the bowling at his mercy, has been timing them sweetly, gets a juicy full toss, but checks his shot and is caught at deep midwicket. This is a ball that should go out of the stadium, but Gill is too much in trying-to-not-over-hit mode. He has scored 90 off 54 with a control percentage of nearly 90. You just worry they are leaving a few runs out there given how there are hardly any false shots. It is 172 for 2 with two overs to go.
The four phases of Gill's innings: 22 off 19 in the powerplay as he assessed the conditions, 23 off the next 12 as he took on the middle overs, 16 off the next 14 as GT lost Sudharsan, and then the finishing kick of 29 off 12.
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Gill takes down Varun and Narine
Well, insomuch as they can be taken down. Against Varun Chakravarthy in the 16th over, he plays the straight loft and then pulls the consequent short ball. Against Sunil Narine in the 17th over, he plays the slog-sweep for a six. These are mad skills, but he is marrying them with trying to bat through, which is how GT like to play their cricket. After 17 overs, it is 162 for 1. Gill is 80 off 50.
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Arora drops Buttler
Harshit Rana's slower balls are gripping in the surface. Jos Buttler reverse-ramps for four what is the third straight slower ball of the 15th over. So he is predicting an on-pace ball next ball, but Harshit stays with the slower ball. Buttler tries to go downtown but ends up skying it. However, Vaibhav Arora drops it, running back from mid-off. And immediately he points towards the camera in the air. GT 139 for 1 in 15 overs. Buttler 22 off 12, Gill 61 off 43. Gill's strike-rate has fallen a bit.
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Buttler hits the ground running
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Jos Buttler's first four balls: a pull, a drive over extra cover, a ramp
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Russell produces the breakthrough
Andre Russell hasn't made much impact in KKR's first half of the season, but here he comes and creates the breakthrough for them in the 13th over. Bends his back, gets extra bounce, takes the top edge on B Sai Sudharsan's cut. Also cramps him up. Just the 41st ball he has bowled this IPL to go with just the 33 he has batted. Also, only the first false shot in a 36-ball innings. GT 114 for 1 in 12.2.
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Now Sudharsan gets a fifty
Almost silently, B Sai Sudharsan has crept up to his fifty and has outpaced Shubman Gill by one ball. Just after Gill's fifty, Sudharsan has also hit his first six, a pull over deep baxkward square off Harshit Rana. GT reach 104 for 0 in 11 overs.
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Fifty for Gill
It has taken him 34 balls, which is not bad if he can build on this and raise the strike-rate further. He has looked the more fluent of the two, and has hit the only six of the innings so far. GT 94 for 0 in 10.4 overs.
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Middle-overs cruise
GT are not losing wickets, but it seems Shubman Gill and B Sai Sudharsan are batting effortlessly. This is looking eerily similar to how they batted against LSG on 12th April and ended up with a subpar total.
Then again, as we said back then, they are not likely to change how they play. They want to get there or thereabouts again and again, giving their bowlers something to bowl at.
After 10 overs, they are 89 for 0 with just one aerial hit.
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And GT attack post PP
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No aerial hit in the powerplay, but Shubman Gill gets stuck into Moeen Ali the first over after the powerplay. He had the whole field inside the circle, but he didn't feel "in" enough to take risks early. Now that everyone is back, he has taken them on for some sumptuous hitting. GT 62 for 0 in seven overs.
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KKR keep it tight
The powerplay is over, they haven't taken a single wiicket, but KKR have restricted GT to 45. Also GT have been pretty okay with going at 7.5 an over. Not a single aerial hit attempted in the powerplay. They have asically played the ball to its merit. This is the second-slowest powerplay out of 19 this year when the batting side has lost no wicket.
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GT's method
Gujarat Titans - as I have said many times before - are like the vintage CSK. They have based their game on similar fundamentals. One of them is for the openers to spend two overs judging the pitch and deciding how hard their side needs to go. Accordingly, they are the third-slowest team in the first two overs this IPL, but they have lost just one wicket in these overs in eight matches now. They average 111 in the first two overs, easily the best.
They are the second-slowest side in the powerplay overall, but across 20 overs no side has been as quick ass them.
GT 26 for 0 in four overs.
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KKR open with spin
GT have made a CSK-like start, not attempting any boundaries in the first two overs. Vaibhav arora, as usual, has swung the ball left to right. Moeen Ali has shared the new ball. GT are just sussing the pitch out so far. That said, B Sai Sudharsan is good enough to cut one away for four when Moeen gives him width. GT 12 for 0 in two overs.
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KKR chase, de Kock left out
Ajinkya Rahane won the toss for Kolkata Knight Riders and elected to field first on the chasing ground that Eden Gardens has been. Languishing at No. 7 on the table, KKR rung in the changes. The former South Africa wicketkeeper-batter, Quinton de Kock, was dropped for the youngster from Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz. They reinforced their batting further after the 95 all out as Moeen Ali came in for Anrich Nortje. Rahane said he saw some dryness in the pitch, which he expected to help his bowlers.
The table toppers Gujarat Titans now faced the challenge of setting a total. Like KKR, they trusted the pitch to help spin. Offspin-allrounder Washington Sundar replaced a fast bowler in their line-up. This change added some much-needed depth to their batting. Rashid Khan was their No. 7 last match, which by the way they won comfortably because their top three have been scoring heavily. Arshad Khan was expected to replace Sherfane Rutherford when defending the total.
GT's top-three batters average 49.72 this IPL, the highest for any team, which has let them get away with Rashid batting at No. 7. Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) top three have aggregated more runs and have been scoring way quicker than GT: 172.4 compared to 155.92.
Gujarat Titans 1 Shubman Gill (capt.), 2 B Sai Sudharsan, 3 Jos Buttler (wk), 4 Sherfane Rutherford, 5 Shahrukh Khan, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Sai Kishore, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Prasidh Krishna
Possible Impact Subs Ishant Sharma, Karim Janat, Mahipal Lomror, Anuj Rawat, Arshad Khan
Kolkata Knight Riders 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Ajinkya Rahane (capt.), 4 Venkatesh Iyer, 5 Rinku Singh, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Ramandeep Singh, 8 Moeen Ali, 9 Vaibhav Arora, 10 Harshit Rana, 11 Varun Chakravarthy
Possible Impact Subs Manish Pandey, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Rovman Powell, Luvnith Sisodia
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Conditions at Eden
Eoin Morgan says there is a "magnificent" covering of grass on the pitch. He expects even bounce and the ball to come on. He doesn't expect any assistance for the spinners. There might be some early swing. The pitch is pretty central: 64m one side vs 62m on the other.
Looks like a bowl-first pitch.
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Narine or Rahane? Who should open for KKR?
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Welcome to KKR vs GT
This is one of the rare combinations of opponents. KKR and GT have played only three matches against each other. GT lead the head to head 2-1. Even this year, they play each other only once. Shubman Gill leads GT against his former franchise, which is struggling with the bat but is the stingiest with the ball. GT are the most consistent IPL side since they debuted. They are the quickest scorers this IPL, and not bad with the ba;p; either. Only two sides have a better economy rate than them.
What does Eden Gardens have in store for us on a hot Kolkata evening?
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