Kolkata drafted in Rahmanullah Gurbaz for Quinton de Kock to partner Sunil Narine at the top of the order, hoping to find a solution to the opening problem in their chase of 199. Mohammed Siraj, however, blew those plans to smithereens as he trapped the Afghan in the first over for just 1 run. Captain Ajinkya Rahane joined Narine in the middle next with both batters finding boundaries off the next few overs with the skipper even slamming one over the head of Purple Cap holder Prasidh Krishna before spin wizard Rashid Khan sent back the Caribbean all-rounder in the last over of the powerplay for 17. After his departure, the boundaries became hard to come by as Kolkata reached 50 in 7 overs.

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Ajinkya Rahane playing a shot during IPL match. (Agencies)With KKRs’ weakness against tweakers well known, Gujarat persisted with Rashid and introduced Washington Sundar as they put a stranglehold on their opponents, giving away just three and eight runs off the 8th and 9th overs. The choke intensified as Sai Kishore was brought to the attack in the 10th, yielding just seven from it. The 28-year-old made the night a little darker for the Knights when he snapped up a misfiring Venkatesh Iyer for 14 as the Gujarat spinners managed to get purchase from a pitch which had looked almost lifeless when Kolkata bowled.

Rahane, meanwhile, continued his purple patch at Eden, bringing up his 50 in 36 deliveries before departing the very next ball off Washington. Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh and Moeen AlI contributed little as the Knights fell at home again.

GT opening pair stand tall again

It has been a game of Russian roulette for Kolkata when it comes to playing at home for the past couple of seasons with the defending champions unsure of what kind of surface will be served up on matchday. With Kolkata vocal about getting a pitch that suits their slower bowlers, a surface that played to the tweakers had the potential to backfire against the Gujarat Titans, statistically the best players of spin this season. So, it was no surprise that Eden Gardens offered up a pitch that was expected to aid the batsmen and pacers more than spinners.

Kolkata bowlers started promisingly with Vaibhav Arora and Moeen keeping the Gujarat openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan quiet for the first couple of overs, conceding just a lone boundary. But Sudharsan broke the shackles from the third over, slapping Vaibhav for two boundaries, one of which was off an exquisite cover drive. Gill, who was initially quiet, took down Harshit Rana with a couple of boundaries before smashing a four off Varun Chakravarthy to end the powerplay at 45/0, their second lowest this season.

Gill switched gears right after, punishing Moeen for a six and two fours in the seventh over before bringing up his half-century in the 11th over off 34 deliveries. Sudharsan also chipped in with occasional boundaries as he reached his fifty off 33 deliveries in the same over. The opening stand was broken at 114 runs when Sudharsan nicked behind off Russell in the 13th over.

Jos Buttler in action. (Agency)Buttler & Gill make merry

The evening, however, got no better for Kolkata as familiar foe Jos Buttler (41) signalled his intent by picking up two fours off Russell before ramping another over the keeper’s head. And this was all in the first four deliveries he faced. The former England skipper along with Gill kept the scoreboard ticking with singles as well as boundaries at regular intervals with Kolkata fielders doing little to help their bowlers out. Buttler was even dropped on 17 by Vaibhav and then by Manish Pandey at 22 which could have turned the match on its head but the Knights were left to rue the chance.

Gill got a move along with two fours off the 15th as Gujarat reached 150 as Varun completed his quota with zero wickets to show, conceding 33. The Gujarat captain also slog swept Narine for a six in the ensuing over as the Trinidadian also went wicketless after giving away 36 runs in his 4 overs. Gill went out on his sword in the 18th over, narrowly missing his century by 10 runs, trying to deposit Vaibhav over the midwicket boundary only for Rinku Singh to take a diving catch. Kolkata did succeed to a certain extent in the end with Rana taking out Rahul Tewatia for a duck but Shahrukh Khan did well in the end to take Gujarat to 198/3, a target that proved too daunting for the hosts.

Brief scores: GT 198/3 (Shubman Gill 90, B Sai Sudharsan 52, Jos Buttler 41 n.o) in 20 overs bt KKR 159/8 (Ajinkya Rahane 50; Prasidh Krishna 2/25, Rashid Khan 2/25).