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Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans (GT) maintained their top spot with a thrilling win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai, on April 23. Hardik’s decision to bat first worked in their favour as they won the game by a narrow margin of eight runs. Andre Russell’s four-wicket haul in a single over followed by whirlwind 48 was not enough for KKR to beat the table-toppers as he did not have enough support in the run chase.
Titans bowlers wreak havoc
In the run chase, KKR’s ploy of opening the innings with Sam Billings did not work. Billings got out in the first over to Mohammed Shami. Sunil Narine did not do well either and got caught at short fine leg by Lockie Ferguson off Shami’s next over.
KKR’s terrible run in powerplay overs continued with the wicket of Nitish Rana in the fifth over bowled by Ferguson. They were reduced to 16/3 early in the run chase with massive amount of pressure on middle-order batters.
Tricky middle overs
Skipper Shreyas Iyer struggled to get going as well. He got off the mark after playing eight dot deliveries. Just when he was looking to attack, uncapped pacer Yash Dayal got his wicket just after powerplay overs. Reduced to 34/4, playing his first game of the season, Rinku Singh and Venkatesh Iyer shared a crucial partnership.
Rinku played well to keep the run chase but Dayal broke the partnership in the 13th over. The southpaw scored 35 runs off 28 deliveries including four fours and one six. Demoted down the order, Venkatesh looked out-of-touch as well and became Rashid Khan's first victim of the day. He scored a run-a-ball 17.
Dayal’s wonder and blunder
In the over Rinku got out, Dayal almost finished the game with Russell's wicket but it turned out to be a no ball. The illegal delivery haunted Titans and Dayal for a long time. In the same over he got a reprieve, Russell hit Dayal for two consecutive sixes.
Carnage from Russell
Wickets of Venkatesh and Shivam Mavi did not matter to Russell as he continued to hit big. Umesh Yadav chipped in too with a six in the penultimate over. But Alzarri Joseph ended Russell’s carnage as Ferguson took a brilliant catch in the deep. He scored 48 runs from 25 deliveries including one four and six sixes.
There were no more twists and turns in the final over. Umesh and Tim Southee could not get a boundary and KKR finished with 148/8 on the board, losing the game by eight runs.
Hardik’s bold move
Earlier Hardik won the toss and opted to bat first to become the first captain in the tournament to do so. Shubman Gill’s inconsistent run continued. Replacing Pat Cummins in the side, Southee got rid of Gill off the first ball he bowled in the match. Replacing an out-of-form Vijay Shankar in the side, Hardik walked out to bat at no.3 to solve the top order problem.
Wriddhiman Saha did not play too many attacking shots as Hardik did the heavy lifting whereas the wicketkeeper-batter struggled to get going and lost his wicket to Umesh Yadav in the 11th over. The Baroda all-rounder reached his half-century from 36 deliveries in the next over.
Miller’s cameo
David Miller attacked from the start with a six off Sunil Narine. In the 14th over, Miller targetted Narine again and it seemed like Titans were heading towards a big total. But Shivam Mavi came back into the attack and got Miller’s wicket with an off-cutter slower one. The Proteas batter contributed with a 20-ball 27.
Quiet slog overs
In slog overs, Southee got rid of Hardik to push Titans on the back foot. Hardik scored 67 runs off 49 deliveries including four fours and a couple of sixes. Tewatia got a few boundaries but Abhinav Manohar struggled in the middle.
Clinical finish
Shreyas gave the last over to Russell who had not bowled a single over in the innings. The move worked beyond KKR skipper’s expectations. He conceded just five runs and got four wickets in the last over of the innings. He was on hat-trick with Manohar and Ferguson’s wickets but did not get one. He also created a record for most wickets in a spell of one over or fewer in the history of IPL.
