Gujarat Titans have strong bowling team and will hinder Kolkata Knights’ revival hopes
Published Date – Sat 04/29/23 07:00 AM
Defending champions Gujarat Titans will look to build on their winning streak when they take on Kolkata Knight Riders in their next match.
Calcutta: The revived Gujarat Titans have a strong bowling squad and will stymie Kolkata Knights’ revival hopes when the two teams meet in the IPL here on Saturday.
After a convincing victory in Bengaluru to end a four-match losing streak, the home side’s blunders were finally on track. In an unfired season for their Caribbean star duo Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, the low-key KKR side without their regular skipper Shreyas Iyer may have just found an ace in Jason Roy.
The Englishman set the pace for a torrid half-century for the likes of Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh and David Wiese, and scored against 201 victories in Royal Challengers Bangalore. In only his sixth game of the season, Roy has scored 43, 61 and 56 in three overs and KKR’s batting will once again be centered around him.
The victory moved KKR up to seventh in the 10-team table, but they are still a long way from the playoffs. From now on, KKR (6 points) must win at least five of their remaining six games to secure themselves a place in the playoffs. KKR have two away games in the six games, one of which is in Chennai, where captain Rana and coach Chandrakanth Pandit will take on the defending champions led by Pandya.
Pandya rolled out the perfect T20 template, and his ability to win in close games caught everyone’s attention, especially after they stifled the Lucknow supergiants while defending a paltry 135 for six. Since January 2022, Pandya has been a revelation as captain, winning 31 of his 23 matches with a winning percentage of 76.67.
GT (10 points from seven games) is a run-of-the-mill team that looks on track for back-to-back playoff berths, trailing leaders Rajasthan Royals in net run rate with a game in hand . The Titans boasted an enticing bowling line-up of Indian pacer Mohammad Shami who, alongside Pandya, caused enough commotion in the power play.
Shami looks relaxed as he subtly moves his fingers around the seams while making deliveries, and he’ll relish the challenge when he’s back ‘home’. Pandya has also been picking up speed, which he showed in his 144km/h win over Mumbai Indians rival Rohit Sharma.
But drivers like Rana and the in-form Rinku will face the biggest challenge as they take on a GT spinner led by the crafty Rashid Khan, who has found a new ally in his compatriot Noor Ahmed. Following in Rashid’s footsteps, the 20-year-old left-arm turntable has been relentless, especially in the middle.
This was on full display when they pressed MI to 152 for 9 in the chase for 208, with Noor returning for 37 for 3, including Suryakumar Yadav’s precious scalp. With an in-form Shubman Gill (in his thirties and fifties) in the first half and the trio of David Miller, Abhinav Manohar and Rahul Tewatia in the second half, GT also had a fearless batting unit.
It remains to be seen how the KKR spin force will cope with the challenge of the Titans, who will also have “family boy” Wriddhiman Saha hoping to fire at the top alongside Gill. Varun Chakravarthy and rookie legspinner Suyash Sharma formed a winning duo against RCB, who have been sharing the spin workload with veteran Narine who has been goalless in five games.
The Pace bowling department didn’t inspire much confidence either, as KKR were still searching for the perfect combination, with only Umesh Yadav a regular in all eight of their games. They had Vaibhav Arora, Kulwant Khejroliya and David Wiese debut, while the likes of Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson and Shardul Thakur have all served as musical chairs.
But none of them impressed, including experienced Indian striker Yadav. However, Indian all-rounder Thakur has made a name for himself winning the match and KKR may recall him in the draw.
