Picture : Twitter/ IPL
Gujarat Titans continued their winning run and further strengthened their top position in the points table as they beat the listless and inconsistent Kolkata Knight Riders by 8 runs in day game at DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai
Titans skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and batted first. They lost Shubman Gill early for 8. But Skipper Pandya coming in at number three and took charge along with Wriddhiman Saha . Saha was out for ( 25 ) . Hardik played well for his 49 ball 67 ( 4 fours and two sixes) . David Miller chipped in 27 off 20 balls. The inning suffered collapse as Andre Russel bowling the last over and his first took an amazing 4 wickets for 5 runs as Titans could manage 156/ 9 in their 20 overs.
For KKR Tim Southee came in place of Pat Cummins and there was no Aaron Finch in the playing eleven
KKR bowling read : Andre Russell 4/ 5 ( 1 over) Tim Southee 3/ 24 ( 4 overs) , Umesh Yadav 1/ 31 ( 4 overs), Shivam Mavi 1/ 36 ( 4 overs), struggling Varun Chakaravarthy 0/ 26 ( 3 overs), Sunil Narine 0/ 31 ( 4 overs)
In reply KKR, began shakily with Sam Billings out for ( 4) , Sunil Narine ( 5 ), Skipper Shreyas Iyer ( 12) , Nitish Rana ( 2). KKR batting flopping again. Rinku Singh tried hard for his 28 ball 35 . Venkatesh Iyer wasted down the order scored ( 17) . It left too much for Andre Russel who scored a typical 25 ball 48 with 1 four and six sixes. Needing 18 off the last over, KKR managed only 10 as they lost by 8 runs finishing at 148/ 8 in their 20 overs.
For the Titans : Mohammed Shami was brilliant 2/ 20 ( 4 overs), Lockie Ferguson 1/ 33 ( 4 overs) bowled with pace, Yash Dayal was impressive 2/ 42 ( 4 overs) , Alzarri Joseph 1/ 31 ( 4 overs) bowled the final over and kept his nerve. Rashid Khan skippered the side when Hardik was off the field and bowled well again with 2/ 22 ( 4 overs)
