Allen, Raghuvanshi, Green and Narine thump GT to keep KKR alive
Fireworks from the KKR trio lifted them to the highest total any team has put up against Gujarat Titans
Fireworks from the KKR trio lifted them to the highest total any team has put up against Gujarat Titans
Scorer: Ranjith P | Commentator: @himanshu_a30
That's a wrap from this run fest at Eden Gardens, where 247 played 218. Here's Karthik Krishnaswamy's report, in case you missed any of the action. And here's the points table, where GT are second and KKR seventh as the tail end of the group stage nears. Until tomorrow's double header, it's goodnight and goodbye from us here! Take care.
Sunil Narine is the Player of the Match. He bagged 2 for 29 in a high-scoring game. He says: "It comes from hard work. The guys have been preparing well. It's all about planning what is in front of you. Every game brings a different challenge. If you overthink, it gets tougher than what it normally is. It's a blessing [to have played 200 games for KKR]."
Ajinkya Rahane: "Really happy with two points. The way we started with the bat [despite] losing the toss. Amazing to see Finn Allen's knock. Preparation always has been fantastic. The talk was always to take it one game at a time. Today the batters backed their strengths. Overall it was a fantastic effort from the bowling unit. It's all about trusting their ability. Whenever you do well in domestic cricket, you carry that confidence. Dubey has been bowling well in the Vidarbha league. Credit goes to these guys. It's all about belief and confidence. Narine makes my job really easy. Varun showed the courage to play this game. He has a sore foot."
Time for the presentations
Yogesh: "Narine and drop catches were the difference"
Sandy: "We are into the 60th game of the IPL and still no Q mark besides any team yet."
Angkrish Raghuvanshi: "Finn Allen was amazing. It was so easy for me. I just had to give strike to him. I'm not used to wicketkeeping duties, and it's taking everything out of me. It was a great surface. I hope we can play on these surfaces every game. They have to kick me out of nets - I hit a lot of balls! Ever since I was a kid, my coach Abhishek Nayar has got me to hitting 1000 balls a day."
Shubman Gill: "Looking at the wicket, I thought 200-210 was par score. We dropped too many catches, and it wasn't easy for the bowlers. The pitch was good. The ones were stopping and sticking. I feel we did well to get where we did. No concerns, but our fielding could have been much better. Dropping three sitters, I don't think we deserved to win this one. Best to have a game like this now rather than in the qualifiers. Rest and recover for a couple of days. Travel back to Ahmedabad, and see how the wicket behaves."
11.30pm While four dropped catches certainly played its role in making it tougher for GT, don't miss the difference in sixes: KKR's 22 vs GT's 12. Both Gill and Buttler, despite scoring 85 and 57, respectively, struggled to gain any momentum for most of their innings. And by the time Gill got a few away, it had become a mountain too high for GT to climb. GT lost only four wickets in scoring 218, but fell well short. KKR get two big points, and keep themselves alive after being led by Allen's 93 off 35 balls.
R Tewatia c †Raghuvanshi b Green 2 (6m 4b 0x4 0x6) SR: 50
Green will finish the game off. Around the wicket.
It's about saving the NRR for GT now. They need 40 off the last over.
"If you have to score targets further than 225, it will come back and hurt them," Sanjay Bangar says after GT fell 29 runs short of KKR's 247
"I probably wasn't enjoying it as much as I should have at the time, because I was putting so much pressure on myself," Finn Allen says of his struggles early on in IPL 2026
"These are regulation figures for him, he has not done anything extraordinary," Sanjay Bangar says after Sunil Narine's 2 for 29 in KKR's win over GT
Many records were rewritten at Eden Gardens on Saturday when KKR put up 247 for 2, the highest total against GT
His 82 off 44 balls against Gujarat Titans' high-quality bowling attack is a sign he may have a future in India blue as well