Gill’s classical riffs drown out Green’s red-hot redemption song in GT’s KKR subduing
Gujarat Titans might not intimidate adversaries with raw power or beguiling variations, but in beating Kolkata Knight Riders, they demonstrated the flexibility and versatility that make them genuine title contenders. The chase of 181 came with a late wobble near the finishing line, but nerveless Shahrukh Khan and Rahul Tewatia ensured that Shubman Gill’s splendorous 86 did not end up in a losing cause.
Gill’s classical riffs
The first stroke a batsman plays in this format is so often a peek into his mind. Gill’s was an emphatic leave. He wouldn’t resort to anything out of his nature just to quieten the critics harping on his strike rate. He bats the way his batting has been honed, frame-worked in the game’s orthodoxies but postmodern in his outlook. He wouldn’t manufacture strokes, or target unnatural allies for runs, or live on a thrilling but precarious edge.
When Sudharsan departed, the score on 57 in 5.1 overs, and Jos Buttler strode in, he handed over to the Englishman the keys to attack. But his departure, by then half the target was wiped off, did not fluster Gill, who soon completed his half century in 27 balls. The required run rate under control, he tickled singles, ran brisk twos, like Virat Kohli at his chasing best, and struck the intermittent boundaries. A straight six off Varun Chakaravarthy was imperious, a pick-up six off Tyagi was regal. It was a hard-length ball into his body. He just moved forward, a half a step and slapped the ball through deep mid-wicket fence. He missed out his hundred, but the 86 classically-stroked runs had ensured two precious points for Titans.
Red-hot Green, blow cold KKR
Even the yellow car on display, tipped for the player of the tournament, would tell the story of Cameron Green’s redemption song. He clubbed a slower ball from the tearaway Ashok Sharma bang into its door, leaving a vicious dent that would require an immediate workshop check-in. Another butchered six and double took him to his half-century, celebrated with a roar.
Foremost in Knights’ winless streak this season has been his lacklustre form.
The costliest overseas player had been like a fused bulb, not even flickering sporadically. Ruled out from bowling due to a pre-tournament injury and struggling to put bat to ball. Last five outings bred only 56 runs, and with every stint in the middle, he has looked increasingly distressed. So he seemed at the start of the innings, when Kagiso Rabada and Co, coaxed healthy seam movement from good length and pegged KKR to 32 for three in four overs. Green, missing and mistiming, creaked to eight runs from 14 balls.
But the moment of benediction arrived when he swept Rashid Khan for a four, He hunkered down, stretched his long limbs and plastered him through mid-wicket to collect his second four. He inflicted more torture on Rashid in his next over, soon after Ashok had foxed Rovman Powell with a back-of-the-hand slower ball. The 16-run-over, punctuated by three lusty leg-side swipes, roused KKR. An onslaught on Ashok, pulverising him for 19 runs including a pair of monstrous sixes, turbocharged him from 27 off 29 balls to 52 off 35 balls. Rashid returned, but Green cut him to ribbons in a 19-run over. He was brutal on the leg-side, often standing stationary at the crease and heaving those strong, long arms. Joy, finally, spread in the KKR dugout.