Teenager Shubman Gill hit his maiden IPL half-century to help Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to an easy six-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Eden Gardens on Thursday night.
In reply to CSK’s 177-5, the 18-year-old scored an unbeaten 57 off 36 balls, including six fours and two sixes, as KKR finished on 180-4 with 14 balls to spare. He put on an unbroken 83 off 36 deliveries for the fifth wicket with skipper Dinesh Karthik to see his team home.
Shane Watson and Faf Du Plessis opened for CSK and the batsmen did not face much resistance from the bowlers. Soon, there came a turn as Du Plessis was trapped under experienced leg-spinner Piyush Chawla’s googly. It was a smooth sailing for the visitors during the major portion of their innings. They crossed the 100-run mark in the 12th over and Kuldeep Yadav got the better of Suresh Raina in the same over. Sunil Narine struck a blow to CSK by removing in-form Ambati Rayudu cheaply.
MS Dhoni swung into action and kept sending the ball into the crowd, during the process he got a lifeline too as he was dropped in the 18th over. CSK put up 178 runs on the board in their full quota of 20 overs.
Chasing a target of 178 runs, Kolkata Knight Riders openers Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn came to bat and Lungi Ngidi got an early breakthrough as Lynn walked back towards pavilion in the first over.
Robin Uthappa replaced Lynn, Narine got two consecutive lifelines, courtesy below-par efforts from Ravindra Jadeja who dropped him twice in the second over. After Narine, Shubhman Gill and Rinku Singh kept the fight alive for a brief.
Gill continued scoring runs for the team and completed his half-century, Karthik gave him company and contributed 45 runs.
Here’s how Twitterati reacted to KKR’s win over CSK:
Calm & collected win like Captain @Dineshkarthik himself & my babies gaining in every match @realshubmangill @shivammavi23 &Narine is Narine
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) May 3, 2018
Shubman Gill !!!! Another India U19 player lighting up the #IPL ……….
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) May 3, 2018
Just how talented is Shubhman Gill…super impressive. #KKRvCSK #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 3, 2018
Well played @KKRiders and @DineshKarthik Indian cricket needs to nurture @RealShubmanGill real talent this man. #KKRvsCSK
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) May 3, 2018
Congratulations @KKRiders for a wonderful win! Amazing team effort by everyone 😁 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 On to the next now!
— Juhi Chawla Mehta (@iam_juhi) May 3, 2018
Special Batting Performance from the young @RealShubmanGill & @DineshKarthik !! Congratulations on the Victory @KKRiders #KKRvCSK
— Rajeev Shukla (@ShuklaRajiv) May 3, 2018
I will be seeing a lot of Shubman Gill in the years ahead. And I will enjoy what I will see. Special.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 3, 2018
Well played Shubman Gill #IPL2018 #KKRvCSK #CSKvKKR pic.twitter.com/AcA8MmbnbM
— CricketTimes.com (@CricketTimesHQ) May 3, 2018
Prithvi Shaw one night and Shubman Gill the next. Graduates of the class of 2018 U19 CWC. A wealth of youthful Indian talent being exposed to a greater worldwide audience in #vivoipl2018. Pleasure to watch.
— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi) May 3, 2018
This is KKR's biggest win against CSK in terms of balls remaining…
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) May 3, 2018
#KKRvCSK
Ten years back, more or less, the same stars were playing for CSK, while Shubman Gill was learning C. A. T. cat in primary school. #JustSaying— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) May 3, 2018
One appreciate Karthik’s captain innings today 45 off 18 not out against the table topper #IPL2018 #KKRvCSK
— Bhaskar Ganekar (@BhaskarGanekar) May 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/hankypanty/status/992081423468294144
KKR is now at the third position in the IPL 2018 points table#KKRvCSK #CSKvKKR #IPL2018 pic.twitter.com/hn6JAoHkM0
— CricketTimes.com (@CricketTimesHQ) May 4, 2018
Dinesh Karthik's SR in last 6 matches:
190.00 – 19 (10)
182.60 – 42* (23)
153.57 – 43 (28)
100.00 – 18 (18)
230.00 – 23 (10)
250.00 – 45* (18)#KKRvCSK— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) May 3, 2018
Highest partnerships for 5th wkt & lower this IPL:
101 Dhoni/Rayudu v RCB
88 Pant/Shankar v CSK
83* Gill/Karthik v CSK
79 Williamson/Pathan v CSK
76 Karthik/Russell v CSKFour of the five have been against CSK. #KKRvCSK
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) May 3, 2018
KKR's run chases at Eden Gardens in IPL:
2008-12: Chases 13; Won 9; Lost 4 (Win% 69.23)
Since 2013: Chases 15*; Won 14*; Lost 1 (Win% 93.33)#KKRvCSK #IPL2018— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) May 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/UjjwalGorai19/status/992103928572489728
Jadeja before Bravo is a bigger mystery than Bermuda Triangle..😂#KKRvCSK
— Inside-Crypto (@funnykomalleone) May 3, 2018
