IPL 2020 Orange Cap: KKR’s Shubman Gill climbs up to sixth place

A collective effort from the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) saw them climb up to second in the points table after beating the Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 37 runs in Match 12 of IPL 2020 at the Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday.

After Steve Smith chose to bowl first, Shubman Gill got KKR off to a solid start with a 34-ball 47. Quickfire cameos from Andre Russell (24 off 14 balls) and Eoin Morgan (34 off 23 balls) then propelled them to 174 for six.

In reply, the KKR bowlers were clinical and never took their foot off the pedal as RR kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Tom Curran’s unbeaten 54 off 36 balls helped them limp their way to 137 for nine.

Two back-to-back crucial knocks by Shubman Gill sees him move up to sixth on the IPL 2020 Orange Cap list with 124 runs from three matches so far. After being dismissed for a mere seven runs in KKR’s opening game against the Mumbai Indians (MI), the 21-year-old opener scored an unbeaten 70 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Saturday.

IPL 2020 Orange Cap list

KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal would look to enhance their lead at the top of the IPL 2020 Orange Cap list (Image Credits: Sportskeeda)

Gill's innings has pushed Steve Smith down to seventh position with 122 runs under his belt. The RR captain was dismissed for three off seven balls against KKR after smashing two fifties in the first two matches.

Another batsman who got out for a single-digit score against KKR last night after Man of the Match performances in the previous two games was Sanju Samson. The Kerala batsman, however, stays firm in fourth position on the IPL 2020 Orange Cap list with an aggregate of 167 runs, just six short of third-placed Faf du Plessis.

Last night’s Man of the Match Shivam Mavi accounted for the swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman for a 9-ball 8 after scoring 74 and 85 against CSK and KXIP respectively.

KKR’s Eoin Morgan, who has been donning the finisher’s role perfectly, has moved up to 14th spot with 92 runs from three matches. He once again remained not out at the end after his unbeaten 42 helped KKR over the line against SRH.

There wasn’t any further change on the IPL 2020 Orange Cap list as the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) duo of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal continue to occupy the top two places with 222 runs and 221 runs respectively. They are expected to further their tally when KXIP play defending champions MI in Abu Dhabi tonight.

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On the other hand, 22-year-old Ishan Kishan would look to continue from where he left off during his game-changing 99 off 58 balls against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday, while his captain Rohit Sharma will want to break into the top 5.