Mumbai, April 23: Gujarat Titans’ fantastic bowling show handed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) an eight-run defeat in the 2022 IPL match here at DY Patil stadium on Saturday. Skipper Hardik Pandya’s 67 off 49 helped Gujarat to post 156/9. In reply, Kolkata was restricted to 148/8 and thus suffered their fourth consecutive defeat. KKR’s Andre Russell became the first bowler to pick four wickets in a spell of one over or fewer. He claimed the four-fer in the final over. Chasing the 157-run target, KKR got off to a terrible start as Gujarat bowlers were all guns blazing and reduced Kolkata to 34/3 in the powerplay. Mohammad Shami struck in the very first over to dismiss Sam Billings (4). He then removed Sunil Naraine (5) in the third over. Lockie Ferguson got Nitish Rana (2) in the fifth over. On the very next delivery after the powerplay, Yash Dayal got rid of skipper Shreyas Iyer (12 off 15). GT bowlers continued to pile on miseries as KKR kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were reeling at 108/7. In the13th over, debutant Rinku Singh got out for the score of 35 off the bowling of Dayal. In the next over, Rashid Khan trapped Venkatesh Iyer (17). He sent Shivam Mavi (2) back in the 16th over. Then, Russell (48 off 25) and Umesh Yadav stitched a crucial 37 off 24 and almost shifted momentum into KKR’s favour. But in the final over, Russell’s fight came to an end as Alzarri Joseph got him on the second ball of the over. KKR needed 8 off 2 to win, which Joseph successfully defended and took Gujarat over the line. Shami, Dayal and Rashid claimed two wickets each, and Joseph and Ferguson got apiece. Earlier in the day, Gujarat suffered an early blow after being put in to bat as Tim Southee got rid of the in-form opener Shubhman Gill cheaply for 7 in the second over. Then, skipper Pandya and Wriddhiman Saha took powerplay score to 47/1. Pandya and Saha added 75 runs for the second wicket before Umesh sent the latter back for the score of 25 in the 11th over. David Miller and Pandya formed a 50-run partnership for the third wicket, which Mavi broke in the 17th over by dismissing Miller for the score of 27. Southee struck again in the 18th over and cleaned up set batter Pandya. In the same over, he claimed his third after dismissing Rashid for a two-ball duck. In the final over, Russell claimed four wickets as he removed Abhinav Manohar (2) and sent Lockie Furguson back for a duck in two balls. Then he trapped Rahul Tewatia (17 off 12) on the penultimate ball, and caught and bowled Dayal for a duck. Besides Russell’s four-wicket haul, Southee picked three wickets and Mavi got one. (UNI)
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