Gill’s unbeaten 92-run stand with England’s World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan helped KKR survive a short scare while they chased down SRH’s 142/4.
Dinesh Karthik. (File Photo: IANS)
After Shubman Gill played an unbeaten innings of 70 runs to help Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in registering their first win of this season’s Indian Premier League, captain Dinesh Karthik has said that he wants the youngster to enjoy his cricket journey.
“It feels good to see the youngsters doing well. I want Gill to enjoy his journey in cricket,” said Karthik in the post-match presentation ceremony. Kamlesh Nagarkoti, 20, who missed the previous two seasons due to injuries, also finally made his debut for KKR. Karthik said he was emotional for Nagarkoti and is happy that the franchise decided to stick with him.
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“The fact that we’ve been able to groom youngsters, we’ve stayed with them. I was a bit emotional for Kamlesh. We stuck with him and people ask where he is. It feels good as a captain,” he said.
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Gill was player of the match for his batting performance. “I’ve practiced power hitting a lot in the past couple of years. I think it was really important for our team to get this win. We bowled really well, it had to be backed by our batting performance,” he said.
Chasing 143, KKR rode on the 92-run partnership between Gill and Eoin Morgan (42 not out) to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
“[Morgan] was batting so well. There weren’t any long conversations. As an opener it is my job to see the team through,” Gill said.
After losing opener Sunil Narine for a duck in the second over, KKR had gained some momentum with the quickfire 13-ball knocks of 26 runs from Nitish Rana. But the left-batsman departed in the fifth over to put KKR at 43/2.
KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik followed Rana and continued on his disastrous form with the bat as be got out in the seventh over. His team were lurking at 53/3 when Gill and and Morgan steadied the ship.
In their partnership, Gill hit five fours and two sixes while Morgan hit three fours and two sixes.
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