IPL 2023: All-round aggressive Gujarat Titans remain the team to beat

Gujarat Titans once again took over the top spot in the IPL points table with a convincing 7-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on Saturday. GT, led by Hardik Pandya, did everything right on the day: from the toss to the chase.

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At the toss, Pandya went by the conditions and not the pitch. With dark clouds overhead and rain in the air, GT decided to field instead of the preferred option to bat. He was almost immediately proven right with light rain that pushed the game off by 45 minutes.

When play resumed, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, coming in as a replacement for the injured Jason Roy, made the difference early on even after losing his opening partner N Jagadeeshan cheaply. Shardul Thakur was promoted up the order but the gamble didn’t work out as her perished after just four balls without scoring.

Gurbaz went after Pandya, Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan and steered KKR to 61/2 in the first six overs. By the end, the Afghan batter remained the only positive for KKR from the day with a 81 run knock from 39 balls.

After the powerplay, Player of the Match Josh Little applied the brakes even as Rashid proved expensive. Little extracted extra bounce to frustrate the batters. His first two overs went for just 10 runs. At the start of the third, Venkatesh Iyer tried to attack but was adjudged leg before. In the same over, Nitish Rana exited as well.

Andre Russell provided a late burst with 34 runs but he acknowledged later that they were 20 runs short. And that proved to be the case.

In the chase, Shubman Gill started positively and continued despite Wriddhiman Saha being dismissed for just 10 runs. Gill’s onslaught continued unabated and he had hit seven fours by the time the powerplay got done.

Mid-way is when KKR created an opportunity for themselves to take this game deep. Wickets of Pandya and Gill came in consecutive overs and the set batters were back in the dugout bringing Vijay Shankar and David Miller to the middle.

Even after 18 runs from Suyash Sharma’s 15th over, GT were five runs short of what KKR had managed earlier at the same stage. But the difference came in what happened next.

The Suyash over provided a glimpse into the momentum that Miller and Shankar were collecting. In the 16th, Miller skied one off Miller and Suyash failed to latch on. The KKR all-rounder raged and you could understand why. Three balls later, Shankar smacked a slower one from him for a maximum. 13 came from that over and the match had suddenly swung GT’s way.

A six, six, four and six followed in the 17th over, bowled by Varun Chakaravarthy, as Shankar brought his name into the conversation for India’s No 4 slot at the ODI World Cup later this year.

With nothing going their way, KKR skipper Nitish Rana took matters into his own hands but it changed nothing. Four and a six set the tone and the match was settled with a wide in an anti-climatic fashion.

Miller scored 32 from 18 and Shankar piled on 51 from 24 balls as they put together 87 runs in 39 balls.

The two points further illustrate the massive task this team had undertaken before the season started and continue to put in the hard yards.

“Down the line in the group, we know that we’ll have to play good cricket to win the game, that’s the humbleness which has kept us in good stead. Everyone wants to contribute, but they accept difficult positions and want to come out on top. It’s all about playing good cricket consistently, irrespective of a win or a loss,” said Pandya after the win.

Gujarat Titans have now won three in a row and more importantly, gone unbeaten on the road with four straight wins.

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