Gujarat Titans (GT) batter Vijay Shankar was the star for the franchise in their encounter against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) which was hosted by Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on April 9, 2023.
Rashid Khan captained the GT side in absence of Hardik Pandya who was unwell and called correctly to win the toss and chose to bat first.
Wriddhiman Saha (17) and Shubman Gill (39) gave a solid opening for the side, but Sunil Narine removed both quickly. Sai Sudharsan (53 in 38 balls) steadied the ship a bit, but it was Vijay Shankar who helped them go past the 200-run mark in the end.
After Sudharsan got out, Shankar pushed on the accelerator as he went after the KKR bowlers and hit boundaries at will. He hit Lockie Ferguson for 2 fours and one six in the 19th over of the GT innings and finished on a high in the 20th over as well.
KKR skipper Nitish Rana handed the ball to Shardul Thakur for the final over and after a good first two balls, Vijay Shankar hit him for three consecutive sixes, the first of which brought him his half-century as well.
The first six was leathered over the deep mid-wicket as Shankar reached his fifty. The next six went sailing over the long on fielder and the third six was hit off a rank half-tracker and Shankar pulled the ball with full force over the fence.
Shankar ended with 63* in 24 balls with 5 sixes and 4 fours as GT made 204/4.
Check out Shankar’s hat-trick of sixes here:
