In their 100th appearance at Eden Gardens, the Kolkata Knight Riders walked out winners from the arena, their flag of hope still fluttering in the IPL air.
This milestone game on Saturday was a must-win clash for Ajinkya Rahane and his teammates to keep their playoffs hopes afloat. And they did so with a comprehensive 29-run win over the Gujarat Titans. The victory not only ensured that the 30,000-plus turnout went home smiling, it would also surely add to the Knights’ confidence, going into their last two matches of the group phase.
Shubman Gill and Co. had come off five successive wins, so to prevail over them with such a margin certainly bodes well for the thrice champions.
Full points from this game helped KKR move up to seventh in the standings, while the Titans remain at No. 2 and need to beat Chennai Super Kings in their
final group-phase game at home on Thursday to confirm a playoffs berth.
The dry-looking Eden pitch didn’t change much in nature despite the covers getting blown off by Friday’s evening squall. It seemed a tad slow, but there was good purchase for strokeplay as well.
One may argue that the Titans’ decision to bowl first after winning the toss was a dicey one. However, had they not spilt three easy catches thereafter, their chances of winning would have brightened.
Finn Allen (93 off 35 balls) was dropped on 33. Angkrish Raghuvanshi (82 not out off 44 balls) and Cameron Green (52 not out off 28 balls) were dropped on 52 and 23, respectively. Still, the Knight Riders need to be lauded for cashing in on those reprieves and scoring 247/2.
Allen fell just seven short of what would have been his second century in this IPL, and also his second at the Eden this year, following his unbeaten ton against South Africa in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup. The New Zealand opener’s back-to-back sixes off the in-form Kagiso Rabada in the pacer’s second over gave KKR’s innings a much-needed push.
After Allen’s departure, Raghuvanshi and Green made sure the momentum wasn’t lost, with the former particularly severe on Mohammed Siraj — who had dropped Allen at long on — in the closing overs. The Raghuvanshi-Green pair stitched an unbroken 108 off 53 balls.
Priceless over
Such was the Knights’ urgency that they had to bring Varun Chakravarthy back in the XI, though the senior spinner was in clear discomfort while bowling. Gill clobbered him for 22 runs in his
final over.
Matheesha Pathirana finally made his maiden appearance in KKR colours. But the Sri Lankan quick could only bowl 1.2 overs before going off with what appeared to be a hamstring issue.
The Gill-Jos Buttler partnership grew from strength to strength, keeping the Titans’ hopes alive. Rahane then turned to his trump card, Sunil Narine. Having dismissed Nishant Sindhu earlier, Narine picked up the vital scalp of Gill, who was taken at deep fine-leg with Anukul Roy doing well to maintain his balance. That over from Narine allowed the Titans only 5 runs.
Left-arm quick Saurabh Dubey, in his second IPL game, conceded only 5 in the penultimate over, which was of good help for KKR. For the Titans, Sai Sudharsan leaving the field after being hit on the elbow in the last ball of the third over, when the visitors were 42/0, hurt them in the chase.