KOLKATA, Apr 29:
Gujarat Titans bowling unit held its own despite Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s scintillating 81 as Kolkata Knight Riders could only manage a below-par 179 for 7 on a good batting track in an IPL match, here on Saturday.
Returning to the side after Jason Roy pulled out because of a back spasm, the Afghanistan opener struck his second fifty of the season as he smashed seven sixes and five fours en route to his 39-ball knock.
But once rookie Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmed (4-0-21-2) dismissed his teammate with compatriot Rashid Khan completing a well-judged catch, KKR didn’t make good use of the final few overs as Mohammed Shami (3/33 in 4 overs) and Irishman Josh Little (2/25 in 4 overs) did play their part to perfection.
At 135/5, KKR had the firepower of Andre Russell and Rinku Singh with 28 balls to go. But they could not get past 200-mark, which always gives a team psychological edge.
Rinku became Noor’s second victim, while ‘birthday boy’ Russell could not express himself fully with GT bowlers doing well to restrict him for a 19-ball 34 not out (2×4, 3×6).
KKR managed just 45 runs and lost three wickets in the final five overs.
Put into bat, after a 45-minute rain interruption KKR lost two wickets in the powerplay with Shami dismissing Narayan Jagadeesan (19 off 15 balls) and comeback man Shardul Thakur who capped a four-ball duck before being caught by superb backward running catch by Mohit Sharma.
But that did not drag back KKR as Gurbaz showed the way with some clean powerhitting, racing to a 27-ball fifty with four fours and four sixes.
Making his intent clear, Gurbaz teed off smashing GT skipper Pandya for two sixes in three balls.
He then took the attack on Shami with disdain. (PTI)
Scoreboard
Kolkata Knight Rider
Narayan Jagadeesan lbw b Mohd Shami 19
Rahmanullah Gurbaz c Rashid Khan b Noor Ahmad 81
Shardul Thakur c Sharma b Mohd Shami 0
Venkatesh Iyer lbw b Little 11
Nitish Rana c Tewatia b Little 4
Rinku Singh c Little b Noor Ahmad 19
Andre Russell c Tewatia b Mohd Shami 34
David Wiese not out 8
Extras: (W-3) 3
Total: (For 7 wickets in 20 overs) 179
Fall of wickets: 1/23 2/47 3/84 4/88 5/135 6/156 7/179
Bowling:Mohammed Shami 4-0-33-3, Hardik Pandya 3-0-34-0, Rashid Khan 4-0-54-0, Josh Little 4-0-25-2, Noor Ahmad 4-0-21-2, Mohit Sharma 1-0-12-0.
Gujarat Titans
Wriddhiman Saha c Harshit Rana b Russell 10
Shubman Gill c Russell b Narine 49
Hardik Pandya lbw b Harshit Rana 26
Vijay Shankar not out 51
David Miller not out 32
Extras: (LB-9 W-3) 12
Total: (For 3 wickets in 17.5 overs) 180
Fall of wickets: 1/41 2/91 3/93
Bowling: Harshit Rana 3-0-25-1, Andre Russell 3-0-29-1, Varun Chakravarthy 4-0-42-0, Suyash Sharma 4-0-37-0, Sunil Narine 3-0-24-1, Nitish Rana 0.5-0-14-0.
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