Shubman Gill.
Chasing 248, Gujarat Titans scored 218 for 4 after Kolkata bowlers remained patient in the death overs.
Gill chased the target by scoring 85 runs in 49 balls with the help of five fours and seven sixes. Jos Buttler added 57 runs in 35 balls, while Sai Sudarshan returned from retirement hurt and remained unbeaten after scoring 53 runs in 28 balls.
But after the quick dismissals of Gill and Butler, Kolkata made a comeback in the game. Sunil Narine played an important role by taking 2 wickets for 29 runs.
GT had a strong start with Sudarshan and Gill adding 42 runs in the first three overs. However, Sudarshan retired hurt after suffering an elbow injury. Nishant Sindhu replaced him but was dismissed cheaply by Narine, who was playing his 200th IPL match.
Gill continued the attack and hit fours and sixes against Narine, Anukul Roy and Varun Chakravarthy. Buttler also found the rhythm as the partnership kept Gujarat in the chase.
Gill completed his half-century in 33 balls and continued to score runs freely. Buttler completed his half-century as Gujarat reached 177 for 1 in 16 overs, needing 71 runs from the last four overs.
The match changed when Narine got Gill caught by Anukul Roy at the boundary. After this, Butler fell while trying to accelerate and was caught at long off by Saurabh Dubey.
Sudarshan returned to complete his innings and completed his half-century, but the target proved too big. Rahul Tewatia was dismissed by Cameron Green at the end of the innings and KKR sealed the win.
The win lifted Kolkata Knight Riders to seventh place in the points table, two points behind fourth-placed Punjab Kings.
Earlier, KKR scored 247 runs for 2 wickets on the basis of strong batting by Finn Allen, Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Green.
Allen gave a fast start to Kolkata by scoring 93 runs in 35 balls. After this, Raghuvanshi scored unbeaten 82 runs in 44 balls, while Green remained unbeaten on 52 runs in 28 balls and took KKR closer to 250 runs.
Kolkata was also helped by Gujarat Titans’ poor fielding effort during the innings.
