Shubman Gill was pumped up; fists flinging everywhere, and screaming his lungs out. He also hurled a few words before running to Kishore and thumping his chest.
Marching ahead in emphatic fashion 👊
Table-toppers #GT continue their winning run with a dominant 39-run victory👏
Scorecard ▶ https://t.co/TwaiwD5D6n#TATAIPL | #KKRvGT | @gujarat_titans pic.twitter.com/qoqWyWAhFJ
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 21, 2025
Iyer put his head down and took the long walk back after scoring just 14 runs off 19 balls. KKR were 84/3 in 11.3 overs when GT dismissed Iyer and Gill said he believed that was the moment they “closed out” the match. They indeed did. KKR, who never matched the required rate of 10 runs per over in a poorly planned chase, were restricted to 159 for 8 in their 20 overs. GT won the match by 39 runs to strengthen their position at the top of the points table. With 12 points in 8 matches, GT have taken giant steps towards ensuring a playoff berth.
Shubman Gill reveals reasons behind aggressive send-off to Venkatesh Iyer
After winning the match, Gill was asked to reveal the reasons behind his aggressive celebration after getting the wicket of Iyer. The GT captain said his emotions came out as it was an important moment in the game. “We were ahead in the game, but it’s one thing to be ahead and another to close the game. Good teams when they are chasing or defending, close the game very well. So that was just some of my emotions coming out,” Gill said.
Gill made 90 off 55 balls, and his opening partner, Sai Sudharsan, scored his fifth 50-plus score of the season with 52 in Gujarat’s challenging total of 198-3. “Very pleased. We spoke about these two matches – that they’re going to decide where we stand on the table. Very pleased to get these two wins back to back.”
Gill and Sudharsan perfectly assessed the tricky surface with their occasional aggressiveness. Gill, who lost the toss, missed out on a century but paced the innings nicely with left-hander Sudharsan. They combined for 114 runs then Jos Buttler hit a rampant unbeaten 41 off 23 balls with eight boundaries.
Gill and Sudharsan completed half-centuries in almost identical style, hitting a dozen boundaries and two sixes between them. Kolkata couldn’t separate them until the 13th over.
Sudharsan, taking 34 balls for his fifty, perished soon after when he cut Russell’s short ball and got a thin outside edge.
Gill’s 33-ball half-century included 29 runs off 12 balls. He was out swatting Vaibhav Arora’s low full toss to Rinku Singh in the outfield in the 18th over.
“We just want to play our best game whenever we’re out there. We never talk about that one of us has to stay till the end. We just talk about how we can score runs in these conditions and how to take the game deep.”
