Gill anchors chase as Gujarat Titans wrap up five-wicket win over winless KKR
Gujarat Titans kept their grip on the top half of the IPL 2026 table with a five-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday, chasing down 181 with a steady rhythm that belied the pressure on the visitors. Shubman Gill led from the front with a captain's fifty, and KKR's winless run in IPL 2026 stretched to six matches.
Green holds KKR together before late collapse
Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and opted to bat, but the decision unravelled quickly. Kolkata slipped into trouble inside the powerplay, losing both Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi cheaply while Tim Seifert failed to get going. Rovman Powell's promotion briefly steadied the ship, and his half-century stand with Cameron Green gave KKR a platform. Green, moving through the gears off 55 balls, finished with 79 studded with seven fours and four sixes. Around him, the innings fell apart. KKR lost their last six wickets for 33 runs and limped to 180 all out off the final delivery. Rashid Khan was the destroyer in the final over, conceding only six and getting Green off the last ball to wrap up the innings.
Gill and Sudharsan set the tone
The target of 181 never looked out of reach on a surface that played nicely under lights. Sai Sudharsan and Gill started in top gear, racing to 57 without loss inside five overs before Sunil Narine broke through with Sudharsan's wicket. Varun Chakravarthy struck back to remove Jos Buttler, caught by Green, but Gill refused to let the momentum drift. He brought up his fifty after being dropped earlier in his innings and took the game into the second half of the chase with purpose. The required rate stayed comfortably in hand and the home side finished it off with balls to spare.
A widening gap between these two sides
Gujarat move on with plenty of positives. Gill has the top of the order looking settled, the middle order barely had to get involved, and Rashid's control at the death is showing again. For KKR, six games into the season have yielded five defeats and a rain-affected no-result, and there are few signs of a fix. The batting cannot get going without Green, the bowling could not defend 180 against a top side, and a playoffs push now requires winning roughly every remaining fixture. Rahane's captaincy is under pressure and questions about the auction strategy have only grown louder. Gujarat's next assignment looks simpler than the one facing Kolkata.
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