Gill leads his Titans to his old home to face under-fire Knight Riders
These two teams have only played each other three times in the IPL and GT lead the head-to-head record 2-1
Sidharth Monga
20-Apr-2025
Big picture: Batting worries for KKR
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have played 259 matches in all these years, but only three of them against Gujarat Titans (GT). Only Kochi Tuskers (no longer active) have played them less often. GT have not played any team this infrequently.
It is a shame because these two teams make for fascinating contests. They love themselves a match-winning spinner or two, but their batting approaches couldn't be more different. At their best, KKR are innovative and bold, pushing the realms of possibility. They open with Sunil Narine, and bowl spin at the death more than other teams. GT like to play within themselves, if you will. A majority of their runs are scored by three anchors at the top. They rely on their bowling to win games. They rely on minimising errors.
IPL 2025, though, has not been the best for the defending champions KKR. They lost Phil Salt and Shreyas Iyer at the auction table, which left their batting light. They are the second-lowest on the scoring rate (9.05 runs per over). It is their bowling, the most economical (8.30) in the tournament, that is keeping them alive. Only just, though, with three wins in four games. GT have been the quickest batting side (10.10), and the third-stingiest (9.01) with the ball. Not a surprise that they are among the best sides with five wins out of seven.
If the tournament so far has not done enough to remind KKR of their failures between the two seasons, imagine coming up against Shubman Gill, a former Knight. The nature of the tournament is such that you can't hold on to all your best players forever, but the batting unit that KKR have built leaves more than a little to be desired. This is not to have a go at him but if Ajinkya Rahane is your best batter - and he is not in the top-15 run-getters - it says a lot about the line-up on the whole.
GT will look to keep chipping away at KKR's batting, which failed to chase down 112 the last time they played a game. GT themselves have the confidence of having won chasing 200-plus in their last match. All signs point to only one favourite in this match, but IPL has its own rhythms.
Form guide
Kolkata Knight Riders LWLWL (last five matches, most recent first)
Gujarat Titans WWWLW
Gujarat Titans WWWLW
In the spotlight: Andre Russell and Shubman Gill
Andre Russell has faced just 31 balls, and bowled just 39. Halfway into the league stage, he has a batting strike rate of a tick over 75. His point of entry has been 14.6, 10.3, 19.3, 14.6 and 10.4. There hasn't been anything particularly inefficient about how KKR have used him: easy wins when he hasn't been required to bat or when he came out in the 20th over, two collapses, and two perfect points of entry with five overs to spare. Russell will want to make the use of those opportunities, especially with the middle order not doing well.
He is not having a bad IPL at all - an average of 36 and a strike rate of 149 - but Shubman Gill is being outshone by the other two of GT's holy trinity: B Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler. Gill has scored just 215 of the 895 the top three have scored in seven matches. Coming off a run-out in the last match, now against his former team, Gill will want to get back among the runs.
Team news and likely XIIs
KKR handed Anrich Nortje a debut in the last match because they felt they could attack the Punjab Kings (PBKS) batting with the extra pace. Nortje did a job but they also sacrificed on Moeen Ali's batting. Conditions will determine which of the two plays, but Moeen's all-round capabilities make him the favourite after 95 all out.
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Sunil Narine, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 4 Venkatesh Iyer, 5 Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Harshit Rana, 10 Moeen Ali/Anrich Nortje, 11 Vaibhav Arora, 12 Varun Chakravarthy
GT have a fairly settled line-up with only one player they rotate based on the conditions. It could be Ishant Sharma, Washington Sundar or Kulwant Khejroliya. Washington gives them extra batting, but he plays only if the pitch is going to be slow.
Gujarat Titans 1 Shubman Gill (capt), 2 B Sai Sudharsan, 3 Jos Buttler (wk), 4 Sherfane Rutherford, 5 Shahrukh Khan, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 Arshad Khan, 9 Sai Kishore, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Prasidh Krishna, 12 Ishant Sharma/Washington Sundar/Kulwant Khejroliya
The big question
Should KKR promote Rinku Singh and Andre Russell?
3.0K votesYes, give them time to make an impact
No, Trust the middle order
Pitch and conditions: The Eden Gardens mystery
It is going to be hot and humid in Kolkata, where teams winning the toss have elected to chase in all three games this season with mixed results. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) restricted KKR to 174 and won, but the other two games featured successful defences of 200 totals.
Stats and trivia
- GT lead the head-to-head between these two teams 2-1, winning the only match they have played against each other in Kolkata.
- GT's top-three batters average 49.72 this IPL, the highest for any team. Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) top three have aggregated more runs and have been scoring way quicker than GT: 172.4 compared to 155.92.
- Rashid Khan has taken just four wickets and is averaging 63.25 this IPL, easily his leanest. His economy rate of 9.73 also makes this his most profligate year.
Sidharth Monga is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo