Gujarat Titans (GT) essayed a perfect revenge win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. Hardik Pandya and co. look absolutely indomitable in the IPL and have now gone to the top position in the points table.
There were plenty of partnerships in the batting innings of Gujarat and that ended up being the decisive factor. The home side failed to have partnerships and that led to them being in the losing side.
Kolkata now needs to win 5 out of their last 5 matches in order to qualify for the playoffs. With the present scenario, it looks tough but we have seen the Knights spring back from tough and precarious situations in the past.
In this article, we take a look at the top 3 talking points of the KKR vs GT game which took place in Eden Gardens, Kolkata:
1. KKR were around 10-20 runs short after the 1st innings
Put into bat after losing the toss in overcast conditions, KKR managed to post 179 runs on the board. Both Andre Russell and skipper Nitish Rana underlined the fact that the home side were a few runs short in the 1st innings and it proved to be true.
Narayan Jagadeeshan had an aggressive approach upfront but wasted a lot of deliveries. Part of this was because the new ball bowlers in the form of Mohammad Shami and Hardik Pandya were swinging the ball too much.
In the middle overs, Rinku Singh at one time was batting on 1* in 8 balls. All these factored in and KKR eventually failed to put enough runs on the board.
2. Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s power-packed knock
Afghan wicket-keeper batter Rahmanullag Gurbaz had a fiery outing with the willow. His blazing blade powered him to score 81 runs in just 39 balls and his knock was laced with 5 fours and 7 sixes.
Gurbaz was brought back into the playing XI as Jason Roy had a back spasm and he made the most out of the opportunity he had received. It will be interesting to see as to how the think-tank make the combination once Roy is fit.
3. Joshua Little impresses with the ball
Left-arm seamer from Ireland, Joshua Little had a dream of an IPL game. Coming in from over the wicket and producing the angle to the right-handed batters, Joshua Little troubled the KKR batters a lot.
He bagged 2 wickets and they were the prized wickets of Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana. After impressing in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, Little is now extending his mark into the IPL as well.
Also read: Mark Wood: The Knight In Shining Armour For Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2023
