KKR vs GT IPL 2026 Highlights: Kolkata beat Gujarat by 29 runs, stay alive in playoff race

Buttler had to go for everything and he perishes. Caught at long on. A memorable first IPL wicket for Dubey, he has got one of the all-time greats and he is bowling a truly magnificient over here. Just four runs and a wicket in five balls. 

Kartik Tyagi comes in for the 18th over. His first ball is sent over long on by Sudharsan for a huge six. And then, another drop for the night. This time by Raghuvanshi. But it wasn't an easy one. Sudharsan went for a slog, got a big top edge, Raghuvanshi dived to his left, the ball seemed to go through his gloves really and behind for four. No ball called for height next ball, KKR review and after an eternity, the decision is reversed. Then Sai Sudharsan sends the fourth ball past long on for four. The batters run a leg bye and then Buttler smacks the last ball over extra cover for six. 

Buttler on 57 off 34, Sudharsan on 41 off 21. 

GT 203/2 in 18 overs

And it's that man Narine again! A well-judged catch on the ropes by Anukul Roy. Length delivery from Narine, Gill swept. Roy takes it at fine leg, he was pretty confident he has taken the catch but the umpires sends it to their colleague upstairs. As it turns out, Anukul's back leg was extremely closed to the boundary pads. In the end, the third umpire says that the catch was fair. 

Sai Sudharsan walks back out. Wonder how much his elbow has recovered from that blow. 

Gill c Roy b Narine 85 (49)
GT 177/2 16.2 overs

Well, where are GT going with this chase. Wherever it is, they should start making their way there sooner than later. They need 85 to win from the last five overs, their required rate has climbed up to 17, and they are going at 10.86. 

Gill on 84 off 46, Buttler on 37 off 27. 

Gill tried lofting the first ball of the 14th by Chakaravarthy, he manages to just about clear Rahane at extra cover and the batters run two. Then he gets a hold of the next ball, smashed over deep square leg for six. He can't find the gap at extra cover next ball and then he goes over the fielder there for four runs. That was a short ball, Chakaravarthy goes short again next ball, this one is pulled over midwicket for six. The last ball is sent over extra cover for four. 

Gill has received some massage on his neck. He has had some problems since last November, remember. He has got to fifty 33 balls but GT need a whole lot more pace on this innings. 

Well, GT need some huge overs now and yet, they would be somewhat at ease knowing that it's Gill and Buttler out there. Moreover, Sudharsan seems ready to go back if one of these two fall. Gill smashed two sixes and a four off Anukul Roy in the ninth over, Buttler got a boundary off Varun Chakaravarthy in the 10th. 

GT 101/1 in 10 overs, need 147 to win from 60 balls

Narine continues for the seventh over. Gill had played four dots in the last one against him. Narine goes full and wide second ball, Gill gets down on a knee and slogs over cow corner for six. Dot ball after that and then Gill charges down the track and smashes the fourth over square leg for another six. 

GT need a lot more of that though. Their required rate is 13.76, they are going at 9.85. 

GT 69/1 in 7 overs

Oh Sunil Narine! 

He tosses the first ball of the fifth over outside off, Sindhu is enticed to take it on and he bites. Tries to go over long off but he can't get underneath the ball enough, Pandey runs in and takes a low, sharp catch. No mistake as usual from the veteran. 

Sindhu c Pandey b Narine 1 (4)
GT 49/1 in 4 overs

Oh a nasty hit on the elbow and it looks like Sudharsan can't carry on any more. Which is hugely fortuitious for KKR as Sudharsan was starting to look quite dangerous. 

It was a length ball from outside off by Tyagi, Sudharsan tried to send it leg side but the ball hits him on the elbow. He is knocked down on the ground but then gets up and scampers towards the non-striker's end for a single. He throws off his bat and gloves as he makes his way there, the physio comes out and eventually he walks off. Nishant Sindhu takes his place. 

GT 42/0 in 3 overs

Well GT need to chase down a target of 248 which means they need a quick start here, one would think. But quick starts isn't something GT have done too often this season, even though they then build up into something huge later on. Will KKR also be as kind as GT was in the field? 

Shubham Dubey to bowl the first over, Sai Sudharsan on strike with captain Shubman Gill at the other end. 

FIfty for Green as well, Rabada with a misfield off the fourth ball to complete the fielding humiliation for GT, it goes for the second four of the over and takes Green to fifty in 26 balls. 

He finishes the innings on 52 off 28, Raghuvanshi on 82 off 44. 

KKR 247/2 in 20 overs

Cameron Green! 

Siraj returns for the 19th over, bowls the second ball too high for Raghuvanshi and wide is called. Siraj reloads that delivery, this time Raghuvanshi smashes it over extra cover for six. Two runs next ball and then Raghuvanshi scoops the fourth behind for another six. The fifth ball is full on leg, Raghuvanshi swipes it over fine leg. Then Raghuvanshi reverses the last ball over short third for four. 

Raghuvanshi on 77 off 42, Green on 45 off 24. 

KKR 235/2 in 19 overs

Well this is just a disgraceful display of the art of fielding really, in keeping with the nonsense we have seen for most of the IPL from other teams this season. Rabada returns for the 18th over, the fourth ball is a yorker on middle. Raghuvanshi whipped it towards fine leg where Washington Sundar is positioned for the catch. And he simply drops it. There is no discernable reason as to why he may have dropped it. It just popped out of his hands. Batters run a single there. Then Greel pulls the last ball over midwicket for a six. 

Green on 45 off 24, Raghuvanshi on 53 off 36. 

KKR 210/2 in 18 overs

Holder's first ball in the 17th over was full outside off, Raghuvanshi sends it over mid off for four. Single next ball and that's a 33-ball fifty for Raghuvanshi. 

KKR 200/2 in 17 overs

Well, someone needs to wash the butter off the fingers of these fielders. Rashid returns for the 16th over, Raghuvanshi with a single off the first ball. Green sweeps the second ball, it goes towards Arshad at fine leg, he misjudges it, tries to take it with a reverse cup and the ball goes through. It rolls to the boundary for four. The next ball is hit down the ground for six. 

KKR 192/2 in 16 overs

Raghuvanshi with a four and a six off Rashid in the 13th over and that makes it 14 off that one for KKR. Cam Green has hit the ground running, the second ball of the 14th over by Sai Kishore is smashed over  long on for six. Then a four to deep square leg and then a pull over deep midwicket for another six. Single off the last ball.

Green is on 20 off 10 balls, Raghuvanshi on 43 off 25 balls. 

KKR 174/2 in 14 overs

The catch is taken this time! Allen misses out on a truly extraordinary century by seven runs. Sai Kishore tosses the second ball of the 12th over, Allen clears his front leg and gives it the kitchen sink. Rashid Khan standing right at the boundary at deep midwicket, he makes no mistake with the catch. 
Allen c Rashid Khan b Sai Kishore 93 (35)
KKR 139/2 in 11.2 overs

Jason Holder continues for the ninth over, his second over of the match. Raghuvanshi gets off strike first  ball and then Allen smashes the second ball over cow corner for six. Two singles after that and then Allen pulls the last ball over deep square leg for another six. 

KKR 100/1 in 9 overs

Finn Allen dropped by Siraj when he was on 33 off 17 balls and he is making GT pay for it. Allen takes Rashid Khan on a ride around Eden! Rashid comes in for the eighth over, his first ball is sent over long on for six. The second is blasted over midwicket for another six. And then, Allen punches the next ball down the ground, Holder slides but makes a mess of the collection, ball goes through him to the boundary and that gets Allen to a 21-ball fifty. 

Well, Rabada got quite close to getting an LBW against Raghuvanshi second ball of the sixth over. Length delivery outside off, comes in with the angle, ball is deflected towards point and GT appealed. Umpire turns it own and Gill reviews. As it turns out, it was as close as it gets. Ball tracking shows leg bail being clipped and umpire's call shows there. Wide next ball, Raghuvanshi then scoops the fifth ball over the keeper for a six. 

KKR 56/1 in 6 overs

200th T20 wicket for Siraj! Well, the previous ball was on a length and Rahane's attempted flick had gone awry, it took a leading edge and flew over shirt third for four. Then he goes fuller third ball, gets it to shape away slightly, this time Rahane plays all around it and his middle stump is uprooted. 

Rahane b Mohammed Siraj 14 (14)
KKR 44/1 in 4.3 overs

Second ball of the fourth over by Rabada, a slot ball outside off and Allen slams it over mid-off for six. The next delivery pitched on a good length outside off, nipping in. Allen with lightning-fast hands, swings it over midwicket for another six. A single off the next ball and that is all the runs that come from that over. Rabada has taken a beating early on. 

KKR 39/0 in 4 overs

Rabada from the other end, starts with three dot balls to Rahane. Then the KKR skipper waits for a 144.5kph back of a length delivery, rocks back and sends it over backward point for the first six of the match. Singles off the next two balls. 

KKR 13/0 in 2 overs

A couple of singles off the first two balls and then Siraj gets some movement in the air, keeps Rahane pinned to the crease for a couple of deliveries. The KKR captain steers the fifth ball towards backward point and takes a single. Allen then punches the last ball off side and the batters run two. 

Mohammed Siraj has the ball in his hands, KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane is on strike, the dangerous Finn Allen at the other end. 

Shubman Gill: We're gonna bowl first. Yeah, it does look like that (pitch having moisture), there was a little bit of rain around yesterday and it looks a little bit sticky, we are hoping that it's going to get better in the second innings. (On GT's bowlers dominating and winning five on the trot) Yeah, definitely, we believe that, batsmen do win you matches, but if you want to win championships, your bowling unit has to be in form and luckily for us, they are firing all cylinders. Our bowling unit has been top-notch this season. The momentum is with us and we have to keep doing the things consistently that we have been doing well. This is not the stage, this is not the time to take any teams lightly, but we're hoping to win the next two and hopefully be stable in the top two positions. It gives the edge to the teams that finish in the top two. You get one extra match. Hopefully, we won't play the extra match, but it does give you an edge, you can go out there and play your game. We're going with the same team.

Ajinkya Rahane: Taking one game at a time, but as you rightly mentioned, we have to win three games and then see what happens. It's important as a team that we've been playing really good cricket, won four games out of five, the combination and also guys are actually clicking together. We just have to keep it really simple, focus on this game, and then take it forward. Absolutely (we have to be consistent), all the parts. As I said, we've been playing really good cricket, those five games, the guys are taking very good confidence, the positives from the last game. It's just very simple for us now. It's one game at a time, win this, and looking up for the next two games. We were looking to field as well. (On the surface) There's a little bit of moisture, there's rain last night, heavy rain, so I don't think it will change that much, considering there is breeze going on. I'm not too sure about the dew factor as well, but whatever it is, we want to give our best in our bat, and then when we defend the total, give best in those 20 overs. Varun comes in, Varun is fit.

Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj

Ajinkya Rahane(c), Finn Allen, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Cameron Green, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakaravarthy, Saurabh Dubey, Kartik Tyagi

Shubman Gill has won the toss and Gujarat Titans are bowling first. 

Aaron Finch and Eoin Morgan on the pitch report today. 63 metres one way, 64 the other, 73 metres down the ground. Now, it's worth mentioning that we've had a little bit of inclement weather in the last 48 hours here at this ground. But the ground staff and the curator have done an amazing job. If we take a look at the surface, there is a magnificent covering of grass, particularly once you get past these bowler's footmarks, it won't have anything really to play on the surface. I actually think there's going to be a little bit in it for the seamers today. It's a little bit cooler. There's a bit of wind in the air. So a bit of swing and a bit of seam movement early. Still, the bounce should be consistent with that covering of grass. So, all said fair. I'd probably say a score in the region of 180, 190 would be a good score. But if sides get going, it's always upwards of 200.

Jason Holder's sharpness in the death overs, and well his sharpness overall in every department of the game, has been a huge reason why GT went from looking rather shaky in the early part of the season, to the well-oiled machine now. Holder has an economy rate of just 5.1 in death overs - best for any bowler with more than two overs - in IPL 2026 and has picked up four wickets in the phase

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Ajinkya Rahane(c), Finn Allen, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Cameron Green, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Saurabh Dubey, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya, Navdeep Saini, Tim Seifert, Varun Chakaravarthy, Blessing Muzarabani, Matheesha Pathirana, Umran Malik, Rahul Tripathi, Sarthak Ranjan, Prashant Solanki, Daksh Kamra

Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Glenn Phillips, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Anuj Rawat, Kumar Kushagra, Shahrukh Khan, Ashok Sharma, Luke Wood, Connor Esterhuizen, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Kulwant Khejroliya, Manav Suthar, Gurnoor Brar

With a five-match winning streak propelling them firmly in the race to secure a playoffs spot, the Gujarat Titans are one of the most in-form teams in recent weeks. 

A win today will mroe or less sure a playoffs spot for them while also propelling them to the top of the IPL 2026 standings. 

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the IPL 2026 clash between Kolkata Knight Riders and the Gujarat Titans from the Eden Gardens. Three-time champions are chasing a win desperately to stay alive in the playoffs race. 

KKR are in 8th spot in the standings with 9 points from 11 games. A win today pushes them to seventh spot in the standings, two points away from the playoffs positions.