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| Struggling Kolkata face stern Gujarat Titans test | | | agencies
NEW DELHI, Apr 23: Former champions Kolkata Knight Riders will be desperate to bring their flagging campaign back on track when they face leaders Gujarat Titans in the IPL here on Saturday.
Having suffered three defeats in a row, the Shreyas Iyer-led outfit has slipped to seventh in the table and the task gets tougher against the Titans, who have been a revelation in their maiden season.
The Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans have been firing on all cylinders, with their batting prowess and bowling might.
Pandya pulled out of their last match against Chennai Super Kings owing to a groin injury but it was business as usual for the Titans as stand-in skipper Rashid Khan led the team to a three-wicket win over the four-time champions.
The biggest plus in their win against CSK was Rashid's sensational form with the bat as he smashed a 21-ball 40 to help his team chase down the target with a ball spare.
GT's opening combination may not have given them the desired start and most of the times the middle-order has rescued the Titans.
It was David Miller (94 not out from 51 balls) who anchored the show against Chennai after half the side were back in the pavilion with 87 runs inside 13 overs.
According to Rashid, Pandya's injury was "not serious and there's nothing to be worried about."
Pandya has been in superlative form with 228 runs from five innings at an average of 76.00.
The onus would be on Kolkata's bowlers to seize the momentum and stop the Titans' three-match winning run.
KKR's pace attack led by Pat Cummins and Umesh Yadav and spinner Varun Chakravarthy (30 runs from two overs) were taken to cleaners by the Rajasthan Royals batters in their last match.
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