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As Gujarat Titans (GT) takes on defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Eden Gardens, the match-up between Kolkata's spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine and Gujarat batters, particularly their top order, would be an interesting one to watch.
Currently, KKR is placed at number six in the points table halfway through their campaign, with three wins and four losses. Their previous match was a shambolic loss to Punjab Kings (PBKS) in which they were skittled out for 95 runs while chasing a target of 112 runs. GT are the table topper, with five wins and two losses, giving them 10 points. Speaking about Gujarat, they are the best batting unit against spin this season. Against spinners, GT stands supreme among all teams in terms of batting average, strike rate, dot ball percentage and boundary percentage. Against spin, GT has scored 419 runs in 258 balls and their batters have been dismissed only eight times by spin in these seven games so far. The batting average of GT against spin as a batting unit is 52.37, the strike rate is 162.40, the dot ball percentage is just 21.6, and the boundary percentage is 22.09. On the other hand, KKR spinners have done immensely well, as far as the economy rate is concerned. Their collective economy rate of 6.51 runs per over is the best among all the teams and they are at the summit of their own as the only team to not concede at eight runs per over or more. The defending champions' lead spinners, Varun (10 wickets in seven matches at an average of 16.80, economy rate of 6.22) and Narine (seven wickets in six matches at an average of 22.00 and economy rate of 7.33) have done an exceptional job in containing powerful batters. Also, Moeen Ali, has taken three wickets in three matches at an average of 14.33 and an economy rate of 5.37. GT's number three batter Jos Buttler holds the key for GT's dominance, as he has a fine strike rate against Chakravarthy (190) and pacers Andre Russell (215.78) and Anrich Nortje (212.50). He has scored 477 runs against KKR in 13 innings at an average of 43.36 and a strike rate of over 145, with two centuries, which came at Eden Gardens only. Squads: Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Quinton de Kock(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Anrich Nortje, Varun Chakaravarthy, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Luvnith Sisodia, Chetan Sakariya, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Spencer Johnson, Mayank Markande, Anukul Roy, Rovman Powell, Moeen Ali, Manish Pandey Gujarat Titans Squad: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma, Sherfane Rutherford, Jayant Yadav, Dasun Shanaka, Washington Sundar, Mahipal Lomror, Karim Janat, Kulwant Khejroliya, Anuj Rawat, Gerald Coetzee, Manav Suthar, Kumar Kushagra, Gurnoor Brar, Nishant Sindhu. (ANI)
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