Gill, Sudharsan help toppers Gujarat boss Kolkata in IPL
KOLKATA: Shubman Gill led from the front with his 55-ball 90 to help Gujarat Titans hammer holders Kolkata Knight Riders by 39 runs on Monday and consolidate their top spot in the IPL. Gujarat posted 198-3 after Sai Sudharsan, who hit 52, and Gill put on 114 runs for the first wicket to lay the foundations of the total at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens. The bowlers then combined to restrict Kolkata to 159-8 with skipper Ajinkya Rahane playing a lone hand with 50 to register Gujarat’s sixth win in eight matches. Kolkata, who won their third title of the popular T20 tournament last year, slipped to their fifth defeat in eight matches. The batters set up victory for Gujarat with England’s Jos Buttler hitting an unbeaten 41 off 23 balls as he steered the team after the opening stand between the Sudharsan and Gill. “We never talk about that one of us has to stay until the end,” player-of-the-match Gill said on being asked about one of their top three staying through to the end in most of the matches. “We just talk about how we can score runs in these conditions and how to take the game deep.” Gill was watchful at the start but the left-handed Sudharsan hit a few boundaries to get Gujarat going after being invited to bat first. Gill took on Moeen Ali with a six and two fours in the second spell for the former England spinner and soon reached his third half-century of the season. The in-form Sudharsan raised his fifth 50-plus score in this edition as he went past 400 runs to nudge out Lucknow Super Giants batsman Nicholas Pooran (368) as the leading batsman. Buttler is third with 356 runs in his eight innings. Andre Russell handed Kolkata its first breakthrough as the pace bowler dismissed Sudharsan after his 36-ball knock but he came under
