Shubman Gill won the toss. He chose to bowl. Forty overs later, that decision had aged like milk left out in the Kolkata sun. Finn Allen walked out to open with Ajinkya Rahane and proceeded to play an innings that was equal parts skill and luck — except the skill was entirely his, and the luck was entirely gifted by GT’s fielders.

Allen was dropped on 14. Mohammed Siraj, running in from long-on, got fingertips to a hard flat pull but couldn’t hold on. He was dropped again on 33. This time it was a relatively straightforward chance, and it went down. In the 17 balls he faced after that second reprieve, Allen smoked 60 runs. He brought up his half-century in 21 balls — four sixes already in the book. Then he added six more. Three of them came in consecutive deliveries off Rashid Khan — 85 metres, 84 metres, then a disdainful pull over deep midwicket that barely needed a follow-through. Only four batters in IPL history have hit ten or more sixes in an innings more than once. Chris Gayle did it four times. Abhishek Sharma twice. Vaibhav Suryavanshi twice. Finn Allen now joins them on two.

Allen finally fell for 93, caught on the midwicket boundary off Sai Kishore — seven runs short of what would have been his second IPL century in three games. His 35-ball assault contained ten sixes and four fours. Strike rate: 265.71. “Sometimes you get a little bit lucky,” Allen admitted later. “I just tried to continue for as long as I could.”

The carnage did not stop. Angkrish Raghuvanshi had watched Allen from the non-striker’s end, collecting singles and waiting. When Allen departed at 139 for 2, Raghuvanshi took centre stage. He was dropped on 52 off Kagiso Rabada — the fourth catch GT put down in the innings. He responded by unleashing seven sixes of his own, including a pulverised pull off Rashid’s wrong’un and a series of brutal lofted drives that scattered the Eden Gardens crowd into delirium. His unbeaten 82 off 44 balls was the best IPL innings of his young career.

Cameron Green, himself dropped on 23, cashed in with an unbeaten 52 off 28 — three fours, four sixes. Together, Raghuvanshi and Green added 108 runs in 52 balls for the third wicket. KKR did not lose a wicket in the final 52 deliveries of the innings. The total of 247 for 2 was their third-highest in IPL history and the highest anyone has ever scored against Gujarat Titans.

Chasing 248 — the highest target GT have ever faced — demanded a start of historic proportions. For three overs, Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill delivered exactly that. Forty-two runs came from the first 18 deliveries. Sudharsan, in particular, was in the mood — racing to 23 off 13 balls with five boundaries. Then Kartik Tyagi dug one in short. The ball climbed sharply and smashed into the back of Sudharsan’s left elbow. He crumpled to the turf, dropped his bat, and walked off the field in visible agony.

The break in momentum was everything. Sunil Narine, on his 200th IPL appearance, slipped in an over during the powerplay that produced just one run and the wicket of Nishant Sindhu. The required rate, which had been manageable at the start of the over, began its steady, inexorable climb.

Shubman Gill refused to surrender. The GT captain — a former KKR player who knows every blade of grass at Eden Gardens — played one of the finest innings of his season. His 85 off 49 balls featured seven sixes and five fours, a strike rate of 173.47. He reached fifty off 33 balls and, alongside Jos Buttler, constructed a 128-run third-wicket partnership off 73 deliveries that briefly made the impossible seem plausible.

Buttler contributed 57 off 35 — five fours, three sixes — before falling to Cameron Green in the 15th over, caught at deep midwicket by Raghuvanshi. The required rate had climbed past 18. Gill kept swinging. In the 17th over, needing a boundary to keep GT within touching distance, he attempted a slog sweep off Narine. Anukul Roy, stationed at deep square leg, balanced himself inches from the boundary rope and completed a pressure catch that would have made Jonty Rhodes applaud. Gill’s innings — 85 runs, 49 balls, a mountain of intent — was over. So was GT’s chase.

Sudharsan, his elbow heavily strapped, returned to bat in the 17th over and courageously compiled an unbeaten 53 off 28 balls — his third consecutive 500-run IPL season already secured. But by then, GT needed 71 off 22 balls. The math was absurd. The chase was dead. Narine finished with 2 for 29 from four overs, a spell of such control that on a night when 465 runs were scored across both innings, his economy of 7.25 felt like a misprint.

1. Allen Dropped on 14 & 33 (KKR Powerplay): Mohammed Siraj got fingertips to a hard pull at long-on. Then another chance went down. Allen, on 33, had been gifted two lives — and he responded with 60 runs from his next 17 deliveries.

2. Three Consecutive Sixes Off Rashid Khan (KKR 6th–8th overs): Allen treated Rashid with three straight sixes — 85 metres, 84 metres, then a pull over deep midwicket. Rashid’s final figures: 0/62 in 4 overs, his most expensive spell of IPL 2026.

3. Raghuvanshi Dropped on 52, Then Unleashes Hell (KKR 17th over onwards): Washington Sundar spilled Raghuvanshi at deep square leg. The young wicketkeeper-batter responded with a 30-run rampage from his next 14 balls, including three sixes.

4. Sudharsan Retires Hurt (GT 42/0, 3.5 ov): A short ball from Kartik Tyagi smashed into Sudharsan’s left elbow. He walked off in visible pain. Narine bowled a one-run over during the powerplay in his absence. The break in momentum proved decisive.

5. Gill’s Slog Sweep — Caught at the Rope (GT 207/4, 17.2 ov): Needing to accelerate, Gill attempted a slog sweep off Narine. Anukul Roy, balancing inches from the boundary at deep square leg, held his nerve and completed the catch. Gill’s 85 was over. GT’s chase was finished.