GT 198/3 in 20 Overs [Shubman Gill 90(55), Jos Buttler 41*(23); Vaibhav Arora 1/44 in 4 Overs] beat KKR 159/8 in 20 Overs [Ajinkya Rahane 50(36); Rashid Khan 2/25 in 4 Overs] by 39 runs

A clash of two heavyweight sides awaited the Eden Gardens as the Kolkata Knight Riders took on the Gujarat Titans in a much-awaited encounter. Knights were gunning to get back to winning ways and put on a terrific performance in order to scale up on the points table while the Titans aimed to extend their winning streak. After winning the toss, KKR chose to bowl first and aimed to exploit the new ball advantage. The bowlers looked to keep tight lengths and pick up crucial powerplay wickets in order to put the pressure on GT. However, the opening partnership of Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharshan put an excellent stand as they kept finding the boundaries. Both played some cracking shots and allowed no respite to the KKR bowlers. While KKR’s golden arm Andre Russell picked up an important wicket to break the partnership, it was Jos Buttler who came to the party and kept the scoreboard ticking. KKR bowlers pulled things back nicely in the last 4 overs as they restricted GT to a target of 198 at the end of first innings.

KKR had a shaky start to the run-chase as they lost Rahmanullah Gurbaz early. However, skipper Ajinkya Rahane came to the fore and carried the innings with some exquisite shots. A quickfire half-century from Rahane steadied the ship for KKR, however wickets kept falling around him. The Knights tried their best, yet weren’t able to stitch partnerships as wickets kept falling. Rinku Singh and Angkrish Raghuvanshi kept fighting right till the end however couldn’t help KKR clinch the win as they fell short by 39 runs. KKR will be aiming to get back to the drawing board and comeback strong in the next game.