Every time miracles won’t save you sometimes hard work should pay off to create such miracles, Gujarat Titans (GT) proved that in the last match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK). They defeated them by 35 runs and kept their hopes alive for playoffs. Gujarat Titans will face today their arch-rivals and table toppers Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
Kolkata Knight Riders have qualified for the playoffs but they aim to finish in the top 2 so that they can reach in final. Gujarat Titans need to win this match to keep their hopes alive for playoffs.
Journey- Gujarat Titans and Kolkata Knight Riders
Gujarat Titans were on the verge of elimination due to their bad net run rate but suddenly they broke their jinx after a memorable match against Chennai Super Kings openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan bolstered their innings by scoring centuries and registered a double-century partnership and kept their hopes alive for playoffs.
Shubman Gill was having a leaning patch but his match-winning innings against Chennai Super Kings brought him back to his original form. Bowlers look confident enough to bowl again with the same intention, Mohit Sharma who was conceding runs bowled a brilliant spell against Chennai Super Kings which gave him more confidence to bring his form back. Rashid Khan too bowled well so Gujarat Titans will aim to win this match with a solid margin.
Kolkata Knight Riders who is in red-hot form qualifies for playoffs in a must-win match against Mumbai Indians. Openers Sunil Narine and Phil Salt are showcasing their power-hitting and have helped to gain power-power-packed performance throughout the season. Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana having an outstanding season, and spin wizard Varun Chakravarthy will be on the roll his spin has trapped many batsmen and failed to score runs.
Stats
- GT has the lowest run rate in the powerplay of all the teams: 7.72; KKR, meanwhile, has the second-highest: 11.04
- GT have hit the least number of sixes in the tournament so far: 67; KKR have hit almost double that: 125
- Gill has fallen to Narine twice in 13 balls in T20s, averaging just 6.5. But David Miller has fared better against Narine in T20s with 95 runs in 72 balls and just one dismissal
- Nitish Rana has an average of 95.0 against Rashid in the IPL, having struck him for 95 runs in 76 balls and been dismissed just once.
Head-to-Head: Gujarat Titans and Kolkata Knight Riders
Pitch Report
The team batting second has won four out of six games in Ahmedabad this season. The dew has made its presence felt more than once and could be the reason behind captains wanting to chase. Having said that, GT won their last game batting first and piling on a huge score. The average first-innings score this season here is 175.
Matchups
David Miller will be key for the hosts in the middle and death overs when he goes up against Sunil Narine [51 runs in 37 balls and 0 dismissals] and Andre Russell [24 off 11 balls, no dismissals].
Probable XI: Shubman Gill (c), Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan, David Miller, Matthew Wade (wk), Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Kartik Tyagi.
Gill is usually at his best in Ahmedabad and matches up well against most KKR bowlers… except Sunil Narine [13 Runs | 12 Balls | 2 Wickets]. An early shift for the West Indies could be in the offing to offset the GT captain, who arrives fresh from a 50-ball century.
Probable XI: Philip Salt (wk), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rinku Singh, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Also Read: IPL 2024: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Lock Horns Against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)