Eden Gardens Roars As KKR Post 247
There are nights at Eden Gardens that remind you why cricket in Kolkata is something else entirely. Saturday, May 16 was one of those nights. Kolkata Knight Riders put on a batting exhibition that left Gujarat Titans with a target they simply could not reach, and in doing so kept their playoff hopes alive heading into the final stretch of IPL 2026. KKR finished on 247 for 2 and then restricted GT to 218 for 4, winning by 29 runs in what turned into a thrilling night of T20 cricket.
KKR were playing their 100th match at Eden Gardens. They needed a performance worthy of the occasion and that is exactly what they delivered. The fact that they won the toss and were asked to bat first added an extra wrinkle, but their batters treated that instruction as a challenge rather than a concern.
Finn Allen: 93 Off 35 And Pure Destruction
Anyone who saw Finn Allen bat on Saturday will not forget it in a hurry. The New Zealander smashed a 35-ball 93 that had the Eden Gardens crowd on their feet from the moment he started finding the boundary. He struck four fours and ten sixes, finishing with a strike rate of 265.71. Gujarat’s bowlers tried everything. They shifted their lengths, changed their angles, brought in their spinners earlier than planned. Allen made every adjustment look irrelevant.
He was dropped twice, on 14 and 33. GT would have known in those moments that they were paying a heavy price for their fielding lapses. Allen made them pay spectacularly on both occasions, launching Kagiso Rabada for consecutive towering sixes after his second reprieve and racing past 30 before the end of the powerplay. He and Angkrish Raghuvanshi put on a 95-run second-wicket stand that turned the match from a competitive contest into a one-sided batting exhibition.
R Sai Kishore finally ended the carnage by pitching one outside leg stump and asking Allen to go against the turn. He could not quite clear the leg-side fielder and was dismissed for 93, at which point KKR were 139 for 2 in 11.2 overs. The total was always going to be massive from there.
Raghuvanshi And Green Take KKR Past 247
With Allen back in the dugout, Angkrish Raghuvanshi took charge. The 21-year-old wicketkeeper-batter has been one of KKR’s most consistent performers this season, and on Saturday he produced his best IPL knock by a considerable distance. He finished unbeaten on 82 off 44 balls, a display of intelligent, fearless hitting that mixed conventional power with unconventional touches. He paddled Rabada for six, pulled off reverse sweeps, and drove with real authority through the off side as the KKR total climbed toward uncharted territory.
Raghuvanshi’s 82 gave him his fifth fifty of the season, making him the first batter aged 21 or under to reach five half-centuries in IPL across the last three years. The previous player to manage it was Yashasvi Jaiswal in 2023. Cameron Green joined him at the crease after Allen’s dismissal and the two put on an unbroken 108-run stand for the third wicket. Green’s 52 off 28 balls came with three fours and four sixes, and his powerfully-struck 50 arrived off just 26 balls. He finished the innings by smashing Rashid Khan for a straight six and hitting Rabada and Siraj for boundaries with commanding pulls and drives.
GT’s Chase Falls Short Despite Gill And Buttler Brilliance
Chasing 248, Gujarat made a genuine go of it. Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan added 42 in the first three overs, before Sudharsan was struck on the elbow and retired hurt. That disrupted GT’s rhythm early. Nishant Sindhu replaced him but fell cheaply to Sunil Narine in the spinner’s 200th IPL appearance.
Gill was magnificent. His 85 off 49 balls featured five fours and seven sixes and at times looked like it might drag GT over the line. He smashed Varun Chakravarthy for back-to-back sixes and reached his half-century off 33 balls. Jos Buttler joined the party with 57 off 35 balls, and at 177 for 1 in 16 overs, GT needed 71 off the final four overs with nine wickets still in hand. That looked achievable.
Then Narine struck. Gill swept straight to Anukul Roy at the boundary and the chase lost its main architect. Buttler tried to sustain the momentum but was caught at long-off off Saurabh Dubey. Sudharsan returned from his elbow knock and reached a fighting 53 not out off 28 balls, but the task had grown too steep. Dubey bowled a brilliant 17th over, conceding just five runs, and GT ended the night on 218 for 4.
Sunil Narine produced figures of 2 for 29 in what was a night full of personal milestones, with his 200th IPL appearance celebrated in fitting style. Cameron Green also took the final wicket, a short ball that Rahul Tewatia gloved to Raghuvanshi behind the stumps.
KKR are now sixth in the table, two points behind Punjab Kings in fourth. They have three games remaining, all at home, and will need to win every one of them to give themselves a realistic chance of making the final four.
Written by 8JJ.com | May 17,2026
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