Capitol Hill

"Many teams have made comebacks after a poor start in the IPL. That's the beauty of this tournament. Any team can beat any side. That's why we have to give our best. It's going to be challenging for us to play against Gujarat. But you never know, what can happen in the IPL," Amre was quoted as saying by the franchise ahead of the match.

Post the play starting after 45 minutes of rain delay, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, coming in for an injured Jason Roy, slammed a scintillating 39-ball 81, laced with five fours and seven sixes. But apart from Andre Russell, the birthday boy, smashing a 19-ball 34, with two fours and three sixes, no other batter stepped up as Kolkata made 179/7.

With the rest of the batters not contributing much, Gurbaz stood up to enthral the spectators with 39-ball 81, laced with five fours and seven sixes. Russell, the birthday boy, smashed a 19-ball 34, with two fours and three sixes, to take Kolkata to a competitive total. For Gujarat, Mohammed Shami was impressive in picking three wickets while Noor Ahmad and Joshua Little were excellent in taking two wickets each.

Mohit, who was a net bowler with Gujarat Titans last year, has picked up six wickets in four games and returned with two Player of the Match awards for the side on two occasions and has been a go-to bowler for skipper Hardik Pandya in the death overs.

Gujarat had begun IPL 2023 with a five-wicket victory over four-time champions Chennai Super Kings at home. But they had to face losses at home to Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals on the back of some belligerent hitting in the fag end of the innings by Rinku Singh and Shimron Hetmyer respectively.

A half-century from Shubman Gill (56 off 34) followed by a late onslaught by Manohar (42 off 21) and Miller (46 off 22), who shared a 71-run partnership, helped Titans recover from a poor start. Rahul Tewatia gave the finishing touches to the innings with his unbeaten 20 off 5 as GT posted 207/6 in their 20 overs.

Even after Gill's fifty, Piyush Chawla and Kumar Karthikeya struck in the middle overs and pegged the Titans back but failed to ride the momentum. Manohar (42 off 21) and Miller (46 off 22) turned the tables with a 71-run partnership, while Rahul Tewatia gave the finishing touches with his unbeaten 20 off 5 as GT set a massive target for MI.

GT skipper Hardik Pandya said: "The pitch looks good, looks watery. It has been a belter though. The way we fought back in the last game we won but LSG dominated for 36 overs. Credit to the boys for the way we came back. We showed whatever it is we never give up. Luck was on our side. We are playing the same team. Josh Little comes back (in substitutes) for someone, that's it."

Mohit took out KL Rahul and Marcus Stoinis in an over which included two run-outs to take Gujarat to a spectacular victory. Titans skipper Hardik Pandya was in tremendous praise of Mohit, saying the fast-bowler made his life easy by backing his plans and executing them well.

Rahul looked good in reaching his fifty in 38 balls and had a strike-rate upwards of 150 in powerplay, apart from sharing fifty-plus stands with Kyle Mayers and Krunal Pandya. But after crossing his fifty, the LSG skipper managed to get his next 18 runs off 23 balls to eventually make 68 off 61 balls, falling in the final over to Mohit Sharma as Lucknow ended up at 128/7 in 20 overs, choking in what looked like an easy chase in a baffling fashion.