New Delhi: Vijay Shankar scored 63* off 24 to provide the required finish to the Gujarat Titans and helped them cross the 200-run mark. The fifties from Shankar and B Sai Sudharsan helped Titans to 204/4 against Kolkata Knight Riders at home ground. 25 runs in Lockie Ferguson’s 19th over proved to be the game-changing period and Shankar went on hit three consecutive sixes in Shardul Thakur’s 20th.
It was Vijay Shankar’s knock that stabilised the inning while at one point 180 looked far away. The no-ball by Ferguson triggered the fireworks as Shankar went after the pacers in the last two overs. Even before these overs, he was striking the ball well and maintaining a healthy strike rate.
Titans had a slow start as Umesh Yadav began well with the new ball while Sunil Narine dismissed Wriddhiman Saha on run-a-ball 17 as N Jagadeesan took a stunning catch. A 67-run stand between Shubman Gill and Sudharsan helped GT to regain the momentum before Narine picked Gill for 39 off 31 as Umesh Yadav took a comfortable catch.
Abhinav Manohar played a cameo by hitting three consecutive boundaries to Umesh. He managed 14 off 8 and the short cracker was ended by Suyash Sharma as his googly landed on the stumps. Sudharsan was caught off a delivery by Narine after he scored 53 off 38, but Shankar handled the inning well even after their set batter was dismissed.
Having asked to bowl first, KKR played all three ‘mystery spinners’ and Sunil Narine picked three wickets while young sensation Suyash Sharma managed one.
While there were boundaries regularly, the batters had to depend a lot on running between the wickets. KKR will need to learn from the GT and build the inning while attacking in the death.
204 seems more than the par score on the pitch but KKR has the likes of Andre Russell and even Shardul Thakur showed his power-hitting prowess in the last match, so the game is on.
