KKR vs GT, IPL 2023: Vijay Shankar, Miller power Gujarat to seven-wicket win over Kolkata

KKR vs GT Match Highlights: In Match 39 of the TATA IPL 2023, at the Eden Gardens, Gujarat Titans beat Kolkata Knight Riders for their third straight win, putting them at the top of the table.

Vijay Shankar’s 51* off 24 balls and the help of Shubman Gill (49 off 35 balls) and David Miller (32 off 18 balls) helped GT get to 180 after the home team was bowled out for 179/7. Mohd. Shami (3/33), who was in charge of the bowlers, led the way.

GT

Qualifier 2 - 26 May 2023

MI

233/3

20.0 overs

Completed

171/10

18.2 overs

Gujarat Titans Won by 62 Runs (Qualified)

KKR vs GT Match Report:

KKR vs. GT, IPL 2023: After Kolkata Knight Riders were asked to bat, Gujarat Titans held them to 179 for seven. With 13 balls left, they reached their goal and won their sixth game.

Chasing 180, GT’s Impact Player Shubman Gill got the away team off to a good start by hitting seven fours in the Powerplay, including three hard fours through the covers, off Harshit Rana in the third over. Russell got the first wicket when Saha (10 runs off 10 balls) hit a slower ball to mid-wicket. At the end of six overs, GT was at 52-1.

Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya worked together. They were both careful and aggressive, and they added 50 runs in 39 balls. Then, in the 11th over, Nitish Rana brought back Harshit Rana. The move worked because Harshit Rana got Hardik Pandya LBW for 26 runs off 20 balls. In the next over, Narine got rid of Shubman Gill for 49 runs off 35 balls when he mistimed his loft to deep mid-wicket.

In the next couple of overs, KKR kept things tight. Then, David Miller hit back-to-back sixes off Suyash Sharma to give KKR a boost and get 18 from the over. Then Russell came back and almost caught Miller, but Suyash Sharma couldn’t hold on to a hard catch high up in the air. It was a very important part of the game.

When 38 runs were needed in 24 balls, Vijay Shankar went after Varun Chakaravarthy and hit him for three sixes to turn the game around and get 24 runs off the over. That over put GT in the lead, with the away side needing 14 points out of 18. Vijay Shankar kept getting better and better. He hit a four and a six off Nitish Rana and got to fifty in just 24 balls as GT chased down the goal with 13 balls and seven wickets to spare.

Shankar was still not out with 51 runs off 24 balls, and Miller was still not out with 32 runs off 18 balls.

Earlier, Hardik Pandya, leader of the Gujarat Titans, won the toss and chose to bowl. Josh Little replaced Shubman Gill as the eleventh player in their starting lineup. As replacements, they chose Shubman Gill, KS Bharat, Sai Sudharsan, Shivam Mavi, and Jayant Yadav.

The Kolkata Knight Riders made three changes to their starting eleven. Jason Roy, Vaibhav Arora, and Umesh Yadav were replaced by Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shardul Thakur, and Harshit Rana. Their replacements are Suyash Sharma, Mandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Tim Southee, and Kulwant Khejroliya.

The bowlers for the Gujarat Titans got off to a good start. N Jagadeesan played and missed a few times when Mohd. Shami and Hardik Pandya were on the pitch. In the first over, Shami only gave up three runs. Hardik Pandya gave Jagadeesan a couple of edges that went to third man for a couple of fours. This made Jagadeesan look like he was going for it. He hit a couple of cuts off the middle through point for fours, but his daring innings ended when he moved way across and tried to flick one off Shami, but missed it and was caught right in front. He chose to look at it again, but replays showed that the ball hit the middle stump, and the ball tracker showed that all three reds had been hit.

In the fourth over, Rahmanullah went on the offensive again. He hit two sixes off of Hardik Pandya’s balls that he hit across the line. Gurbaz went after Shami in the next over, hitting a four and a six off the first two balls of the fifth over. However, the experienced campaigner that is Shami came back hard and got rid of Shardul Thakur, who was moved up to No. 3, off the last ball of the over as Mohit Sharma made a great running catch. Gurbaz kept hitting even though KKR lost two wickets. He hit Rashid Khan for a six straight down the ground and then swiped one over short fine leg for a four, giving KKR 13 runs off the over and bringing them to 61/2 at the end of the Powerplay.

After the Powerplay, the GT bowlers got things under control and gave up only 23 runs in four overs. At the halfway point, KKR was at 84/2 and Gurbaz had gotten his fifty off of just 27 balls. GT’s efforts to put pressure on the other team paid off when Josh Little sent back both Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana in the same over. Iyer was caught LBW, and when he tried to scoop the ball, he missed it and lost the second review as well. Rana then hit a straight ball to backward point.

Gurbaz got going again with a couple of sixes. He then struck Rashid Khan again, hitting him for a six down the ground and a four through mid-wicket to make it 17 runs off the over. Gurbaz was out for 81 runs in 39 balls when Noor bowled him in the next over. Rashid Khan took a great catch at deep mid-wicket to get rid of Gurbaz. Noor had a great 16th over. He only gave up three runs and got rid of the dangerous Gurbaz.

Russell then got into a good rhythm and hit Rashid Khan for a couple of sixes. Rashid Khan had a rare bad day and gave up 54 runs without getting a wicket. In the next over, Noor took another important wicket when he had Rinku Singh caught at long off. Wiese and Russell gave the last push. They hit 23 runs in the last two overs, which helped KKR get to 179/7.

Russell was caught at deep point on the last ball of the innings, but he had done his job by hitting 34 off 19 on his birthday.

At the start of the second innings, GT replaced Mohit Sharma with Shubman Gill as their Impact Player. KKR replaced Venkatesh Iyer with Suyash Sharma as their Impact Player.