Walk in the park for Titans

Press Trust Of India

Kolkata: Defending champions Gujarat Titans once again came up with a clinical display to prevail over Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets and climb to the top of the table in the IPL, here on Saturday. It was sweet revenge for Titans, who lost their home game due to Rinku Singh’s heroics.

First it was, the Titans pace duo of Mohammad Shami (3/33) and Josh Little (2/25) picked five wickets between them, while left-arm spinner Noor Ahmad (2/21) continued his fine run to restrict KKR to a below-par 179/7 after Hardik Pandya opted to bowl. On a batting-friendly strip, Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s scintillating 39-ball 81 set the tempo, but KKR managed just 45 runs and lost three wickets in the final five overs to miss the psychological 200-run mark.

In reply, GT raced to the target in 17.5 overs with Vijay Shankar remaining unbeaten on 51 off 24 balls (2x4, 5x6). Defending the paltry total, the home side had their moments when they dismissed a flawless Shubman Gill one run shy of fifty and almost had David Miller on 26.

But they made a harakiri of sorts as Miller’s skier, which would have been a straightforward catch by their wicketkeeper, was attempted by Suyash Sharma from third man and he ended up grassing it. GT at that time still needed 51 runs from 29 balls but it turned out to be a gamechanging moment as Shankar and Miller (32 not out; 18b, 2x4, 2x6) sealed the issue in an unbroken 87-run unbroken partnership that came off 39 balls.

The win took GT to top spot in the table with 12 points from eight matches as they need to win two more matches to seal the playoff berth for a second time on the trot. KKR on the other hand staring at early elimination after enduring their sixth defeat from nine matches as they now face must win all their remaining five matches.

Brief scores: Gujarat Titans 180 for 3 (Vijay 51*, Gill 49, Miller 32*) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 179 for 7 (Gurbaz 81, Russell 34, Shami 3-33, Noor 2-21, Little 2-25) by seven wickets