Another display of Gujarat Titans' dominance and Kolkata Knight Riders' struggles at home saw the them suffer a 39-run defeat at Eden Gardens on Monday night in the Indian Premier League 2025 match 39. (Match Blog | Full Coverage)
Opting to bowl first, KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane regretted soon as the GT openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan put on a 114-run stand leading their side to a formidable 198/3 finish.
Gill was at his fluent best, scoring 90 off 55 deliveries with 10 fours and 3 sixes. Sudharsan, too, continued his stellar form with a 36-ball 52 -- his fifth half-century of the season -- reclaiming the Orange Cap (with 417 runs) as he became the first batter to cross 400 runs in the IPL 2025 season so far.
At the end, Jos Buttler's unbeaten 41 off 23 ensured GT didn't struggle in finding the rhythm for a strong finish.
Now, chasing the challenging target of 199, KKR's never really took off.
Mohammed Siraj removed Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the opening over for just 1 run. Rashid Khan -- who looked back to his best -- spun a web around the middle order with figures of 2/25, removing Sunil Narine for 17 and Andre Russell for just 21.
Prasidh Krishna joined the party with twin strikes, dismissing Ramandeep Singh for only a single and Moeen Ali for a duck in consecutive balls. Ishant Sharma picked the wicket of Rinku Singh for just 17 off 14 balls.
Ajinkya Rahane stood tall with a 36-ball 50 but lacked support at the other end as wickets keep tumbling with none of the KKR batter crossing the 30-run mark. The middle overs saw a 36-ball boundary drought for KKR.
The defending champions eventually crawled to 159/8 in 20 overs, falling well short of the target. This was their third loss in four matches at home, and their fifth defeat in eight games overall.
With this victory, the Gujarat Titans stay solid at the top with 12 points from 8 matches while the Kolkata Knight Riders remain at seventh place with 6 points from 8 matches played.
Up next in their IPL 2025 camaign, GT will take a short trip down to Jaipur for their match against Rajasthan Royals on April 28. Meanwhile, KKR will host Punjab Kings on April 26.
Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Gujarat Titans Commentary:
Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Gujarat Titans Playing XIs:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy
Gujarat Titans: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Sherfane Rutherford, Rahul Tewatia, Washington Sundar, Shahrukh Khan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj
