After suffering a loss against Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Saturday, KKR skipper Nitish Rana was extremely disappointed. Apart from Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s heroic knock of 81, other batters failed to deliver for Kolkata. According to Rana, his side was sloppy.
“I think we were 20-25 runs short, up against top teams, we can't be this sloppy with the bat. We didn't get partnerships developing, other than Gurbaz and Russell, no one else, including me, scored. If we got a good partnership in the middle overs, we could have done better. In crucial games and against top oppositions, you need to do all the basics well in all the three departments of the game. The batting was ok today, but we didn't bowl well. Need to do well in the small moments, bowl according to the plan and do the basics well,” Rana said at the post-match press conference.
Talking about the match, KKR were told to bat first and they ended up putting in a decent score of 179/7 in their 20 overs., with Rahmanullah Gurbaz playing the knock of his life 81 runs in 39 balls and helping his team reach a good score. Andre Russell also played a quick-fire innings off 34 off 19 balls, with two fours and three sixes.
For Gujarat Titans, Mohammed Shami starred with the ball, scalping 3/33 in his four overs. Joshua Little also contributed for their team by taking (2/25) and Noor Ahmed (2/21). While in batting, it was Shubman Gill who played the knock of 49 in 35 balls alongside Vijay Shankar’s 51* in 24 balls, helping his team seal a seven-wicket win with 13 balls to go.
After this win, Gujarat Titans have gained the top spot in the points table with 12 points while KKR are at the seventh position with three wins and six losses.