New Delhi:
Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya smashed another half-century before their bowlers secured a thrilling eight-run win against Kolkata Knight Riders in an IPL 2022 match at the Dr DY Patil Stadium here on Saturday.
Gujarat Titans held their nerve to get their sixth win of the campaign and move back to the top of the IPL 2022 table. The total of 156 is now the lowest to be defended by a team so far in this edition of IPL. Hardik Pandya played a skipper’s knock of 67 off 49 balls while David Miller played a handy innings of 27 for Gujarat Titans. For KKR, Tim Southee scalped three wickets while Shivam Mavi and Umesh Yadav bagged one each. Andre Russell, who bowled the last over for GT, scalped 4 wickets.
Chasing 157, KKR endured a bad start as the team amassed 34 runs with the loss of three wickets in the first six overs.
In the very first over, Mohammad Shami struck to remove Sam Billings. The batter pulled the sharp bouncer and the ball got the top edge which was easily taken by the keeper. In his very next over, veteran Indian pacer struck again to dismiss Sunil Narine.
Lockie Ferguson in the 5th over joined the wicket-taking party with a steaming delivery to Nitish Rana. The batter defended the ball and ended up feathering it to the keeper. Then in the first over after the powerplay, Yash Dayal got the better of KKR’s skipper Shreyas Iyer.
With 94 needed in the second half of the innings, Rinku Singh and Venkatesh Iyer joined hands to steady the ship for KKR. The 45-run partnership was ended by Yash Dayal in the 13th over. Rinku Singh was looking to pull but got the inner edge through to the keeper.
Andre Russell did give hope to KKR with his quick knock of 48, but the wickets at the other end kept falling and GT secured an 8-run win in the last over.
Earlier, Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya smashed another half-century and guided his team to 156/9 against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Choosing to bat first, Gujarat had a decent start and had lost one wicket when they reached 47. Tim Southee removed Shubman Gill. The Kiwi bowler sent a good length ball which Shubman Gill attempted to nudge. The ball went away from the pads and straight to the keeper.
Wriddhiman Saha and Hardik Pandya then steadied the ship for Gujarat but the opener wasn’t able to make the mark as he was removed in the 11th over by Umesh Pandya off 25 runs. Runs kept clocking for Titans but it was at a very slow pace.
The third half-century on the trot for the Gujarat skipper came in the 12th over. Pandya then stitched a 50-run partnership with David Miller. The half-century partnership came to an end in the 17th over off Shivam Dube. David Miller tried to slap the cutter straight down the ground, but the ball hit the top edge and went directly to the point fielder.
Southee then removed dangerous-looking Pandya and Rashid Khan in the 18th over to derail Gujarat’s late charge. Four wickets then fell in the final over of Andre Russell and a total of six in the last 17 balls – it was a crashlanding of sorts from Gujarat Titans.
Gujarat Titans 156/9 (Hardik Pandya 67, David Miller 27; Andre Russell 4-5) vs Kolkata Knight Riders 148/8 (Andre Russell 48, Rinku Singh 35; Mohammad Shami 2-20).
(This is an ANI story. Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by News24.)
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