Gujarat served a masterclass in chasing on Saturday evening at the Eden Gardens, beating Kolkata by 7 wickets. From needing 69 from 36 balls at one stage of the chase, to finishing the game with 13 balls to spare - Gujarat's middle order delivered to help the team move up to the top spot in the league standings, with 12 points.
Kolkata were put into bat first by Hardik Pandya after he won the toss and the team posted 179/7 at the Eden Gardens. Jagadeesan and Shardul Thakur were out early as Kolkata completed 10 overs at 84/2. But Josh Little’s 11th over had him get the wickets of Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana and Kolkata were suddenly in trouble at 88/4, just one over later. It was Afghan opener Rahmanullah though who saved the innings with his 39-ball 81 that was assisted by Andre Russell’s 19 ball 34 to help Kolkata post 179/7. Mohammad Shami picked 3/33 while Noor Ahmad and Josh little picked 2 wickets each.
Shubman continued his good form in the chase, scoring 49 while Saha scored 10 and Hardik Pandya made 26. After 12 overs, Gujarat were at 98/3 but David Miller and Vijay Shankar collaborated to get the team home. Varun Chakravarthy was smashed for 24 runs in the 18th over and the team needed 14 from the last 3. Vijay in fact completed his fifty, off 24 deliveries as Gujarat won with 13 balls to spare.
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