Gujarat Titans (GT) star R Sai Kishore has backed his spin-twin Rashid Khan to regain his form as the Indian Premier League (IPL) enters it business end. With just six wickets in eight matches, Rashid is in the middle of his worst IPL season. However, the former SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) spinner was one of the standout performers as GT beat the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Monday. Rashid returned with figures of 2/25, his best of the season so far, helping GT restrict KKR to 159/8 in pursuit of 199 at the Eden Gardens.
After the match, former England batter Nick Knight, who is part of the commentary panel, quizzed Kishore over Rashid’s form so far this season.
“What about Rashid Khan? Your spin twin. It hasn’t been the ideal tournament for him. But a couple of wickets (today) in crucial time, how’s it going for him?” asked Knight in the post-match presentation.
To this, Kishore labelled Rashid as the “best T20 bowler” and that the entire team trusts him to come good as the tournament progresses. Kishore also took a dig at the commentators for questioning Rashid’s form, to which Knight assured he also wants the player to do well.
“He’s one of the best T20 bowlers in the world. He’s getting his wicket-taking knack back. As a team, we don’t doubt his abilities, I don’t know what it’s like in the commentary box. We all believe in him and I still believe he’s the best T20 bowler in the world,” Kishore repiled.
“We never doubt him. That’s why we want him to do well,” said Knight.
Coming back to the match, Shubman Gill led from the front with his 55-ball 90 to help GT hammer holders KKR by 39 runs.
posted 198-3 after Sai Sudharsan, who hit 52, and Gill put on 114 runs for the first wicket to lay the foundations of the total at Eden Gardens.
The bowlers then combined to restrict Kolkata to 159-8 with skipper Ajinkya Rahane playing a lone hand with 50 to register Gujarat’s sixth win in eight matches.
KKR, who won their third title of the popular T20 tournament last year, slipped to their fifth defeat in eight matches.
The batters set up victory for Gujarat with England’s Jos Buttler hitting an unbeaten 41 off 23 balls as he steered the team after the opening stand between the Sudharsan and Gill.
(With AFP Inputs)
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