🏏IPL 2025 - Match 5: GT vs PBKS, 25 March 2025 @ 7:30 PM IST🏏

🏏IPL 2025 - Match 5: GT vs PK at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on 25 March 2025 @ 7:30 PM IST🏏

It's Buttler vs Maxwell as Titans kick off against new-look PBKS

As Gill promises to maximise the powerplay, will Titans come out of their 2024 funk?

New season, fresh start. That seems to be Punjab Kings' motto before every IPL season, and it's no different this time. After IPL 2024, they retained only Prabhsimran Singh and Shashank Singh, two uncapped Indians, and brought back Arshdeep Singh and Harpreet Brar at the mega auction in November. The rest of the squad is new, as is their head coach Ricky Ponting.

Ponting wants to make this "the greatest Punjab Kings team". To be fair, the ingredients are there. Their new captain Shreyas Iyer had had a successful captain-coach relationship with Ponting at Delhi Capitals and led Kolkata Knight Riders to the title last year. Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis will lend muscle to the middle order, and Lockie Ferguson and Yuzvendra Chahal experience to the bowling unit. This is not the first time PBKS have looked this good, however, and their trophy cabinet remains empty.

Gujarat Titans did not make so many changes. Shubman Gill remains their captain, Rashid Khan their magician and Rahul Tewatia their miracle man. But they've added Jos Buttler to their batting and revamped their fast-bowling attack, which now features Kagiso Rabada, Gerald Coetzee, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna. Their middle order looks brittle, but this is not the first time Titans have looked less than ideal. We all know how they surprised everyone in their inaugural season in 2022.

Just like Ponting, Gill has also made his goal public: "maximise the powerplay". Last season, Titans were by far the slowest side in that phase, stuttering at 7.41 runs per over. Gill himself will have to play an active role if Titans are to improve that number. Among the 22 batters who faced at least 100 balls in the powerplay in IPL 2024, Gill had the fourth-lowest strike rate, 131.08. An improved performance will not only help Gill the Titans captain but also Gill the India player, who has lost his place in the T20I side.

[Tag and Logo credit to Wildestdreams]

The big question

Who should be PBKS' fourth overseas player? Picking Omarzai means opening with two uncapped Indian batters against a strong bowling attack. Picking Inglis leaves them with one fewer bowling option.

In the spotlight: Jos Buttler and Glenn Maxwell

Jos Buttler did not have much success as England's white-ball captain, especially in the last couple of years of his stint, but his T20 stocks are as strong as ever. Since the start of 2024, he averages nearly 40 at a strike rate of almost 150 in the format. He was the only batter in IPL 2024 to score two hundreds. Given Titans need quick and sustained starts in the absence of big names in the middle order, Buttler could be their ideal opener.

Glenn Maxwell is back at PBKS for the third time. In his first season for them, in 2014, he was the third-highest run-getter in the league with 552 runs at a strike rate of 187.75. In 2020, his last season with PBKS, he could manage only 108 runs in 11 innings and could not hit even one six. This time, he is coming off a successful BBL with Melbourne Stars: 325 runs at an average of 54.16 and a strike rate of 186.78. PBKS will hope he continues in the same vein.

Key stats

• Gill has 1079 runs in T20s at the Narendra Modi Stadium, at an average of 71.93 and a strike rate of 163.23.
• Earlier this year, Kagiso Rabada and Rashid Khan were the joint-highest wicket-takers in MI Cape Town's successful run to the SA20 title.
• Inglis strikes at 149.09 against fast bowlers and 145.74 against spin.
• Only Jasprit Bumrah (6.06) and Matheesha Pathirana (8.12) had better death-overs economy rates than Rashid (8.94) and Chahal (9.00) in the last two IPL seasons (minimum ten overs in that phase).

Pitch and conditions

It's difficult to predict how the pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium will play. Last season, Titans were bowled out for 89 against Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad managed only 159 and 162 in their two outings. But the venue also saw Titans posting three totals of 199 or more, two of which were chased down, once by PBKS. In all, chasing teams won six of the eight games played in Ahmedabad in IPL 2024.

GT vs PBKS, IPL 2025: Narendra Modi Stadium Pitch Report

Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium is known to be a batter’s paradise with the 22-yard strips in the stadium offering batting-friendly conditions which inevitably lead to high-scoring encounters. There is reliable bounce on the ground and the average first-innings score is around 200. Expect some attacking shots and batters to have the upper hand. If the past is any indicator, pacers will get movement early, but as the match progresses, the surface tends to slow down.

GT vs PBKS, IPL 2025: Ahmedabad Weather Report

As per AccuWeather, Ahmedabad should have crystal clear skies throughout the Gujarat Titans versus Punjab Kings match. Temperatures are likely to range around 37 degrees C.

Next three fixtures

Titans' next game is also at home, against Mumbai Indians on Saturday. After that, they will play two away games, against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

PBKS' schedule is the other way round. They will first play Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow before hosting Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings in Mullanpur.

Head to Head: Titans have a 3-2 lead over Punjab, but the visitors won the only previous meeting between the two teams in Ahmedabad last year.

Head to Head - Last 5 Matches

GT won by 3 wickets (with 5 balls remaining), 22-Apr-2024

PBKS won by 3 wickets (with 1 ball remaining), 05-Apr-2024

GT won by 6 wickets (with 1 ball remaining), 14-Apr-2023

PBKS won by 8 wickets (with 24 balls remaining), 04-May-2022

GT won by 6 wickets (with 0 balls remaining), 09-Apr-2022

Batters to watch(Recent stats)

Sai Sudharsan, GT

10 M • 445 Runs • 49.44 Avg • 146.86 SR

Shubman Gill, GT

10 M • 387 Runs • 43 Avg • 147.7 SR

Shashank Singh, PBKS

10 M • 263 Runs • 37.57 Avg • 154.7 SR

Prabhsimran Singh, PBKS

10 M • 229 Runs • 22.9 Avg • 154.72 SR

Bowlers to watch(Recent stats)

Rashid Khan, GT

10 M • 8 Wkts • 8.27 Econ • 26.75 SR

Sai Kishore, GT

3 M • 5 Wkts • 10.63 Econ • 9.6 SR

Arshdeep Singh, PBKS

10 M • 15 Wkts • 10.39 Econ • 14.4 SR

Yuzvendra Chahal, PBKS

2 M • 3 Wkts • 7.75 Econ • 16 SR

Every IPL team this season has seen changes - new players, new captains, and new coaches - thanks to the mega auction. But Gujarat Titans have had something even bigger: new owners. The original promoter group, CVC, has ceded control to a new corporate entity. But ask Shubman Gill and he would say, 'The more things change, the more they stay the same.'

Until last year, one key difference between Gujarat Titans and other IPL teams was their owners' delegative approach. The former owners remained largely invisible, allowing the team management to run cricketing affairs without interference, a contrast to most other franchises of the league. And when Gill says, "We are the team with the highest win percentage in the past three years," it is largely because of the hands-off approach by the erstwhile GT management.

"I haven't had a chance to speak with them but I think that's a good thing. Because if there was anything new I must have had a reason to talk to them. Except for the great players that we have added in this team I don't think there is anything new as such," the GT skipper said of the new management and changes to the squad on the eve of their season-opener against Punjab Kings.

With the influx of players like Jos Buttler, Glenn Phillips, Kagiso Rabada, and Mohammed Siraj, the Titans appear quite formidable. The addition of Rashid Khan, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan, and Rahul Tewatia to that line-up further strengthens the squad. As someone noted in the pre-match media conference, the Titans now have a 'problem of plenty,' boasting a strong group of specialists across batting, bowling, and even fielding.

With a steady coach enjoying an uninterrupted three-year stint and a retained captain, the Titans are undoubtedly one of the most settled sides in the league. Their key dilemma is whether to have Buttler open with Gill or stick with Sai Sudharsan. While having Siraj take the new ball is a luxury, the real question for the GT think tank is how effective he will be in the death overs.

The revamped Punjab side, under the management of Shreyas Iyer and Ricky Ponting, promises to be the best Punjab side ever. "The overall vision for this team is to win the IPL. I told the guys on the very first day when I joined the camp in Dharamshala that we were going to create and become the greatest Punjab Kings team that's played," said the former Australia captain.

That's quite an ambitious goal for a side that appears a bit light on batting. Beyond Shreyas Iyer, there are no established names in the batting lineup and they will need uncapped Shashank Singh to step up and hope for Jos Inglis to replicate his form from the Pakistan leg of the Champions Trophy. While Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell have the ability to win matches on their day, consistency has not been their strong point. Moreover, if Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya are indeed set to open the innings, they would be among the least experienced opening pairs in the league.

If this Punjab Kings team were to be considered the greatest side ever, the players will need to perform beyond their limits. On paper, however, the Titans appear far stronger for Tuesday's game

When: Tuesday, March 25, 2025, 7:30 PM IST

Where: Gujarat Titans vs Punjab Kings, Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad

What to expect: It should be a high-scoring game with no impact of toss but teams may like to field first irrespective of the new rule allowing a second ball in the second innings to counter any element of dew. Largely it will be a contest between the specialists in Gujarat and the all-rounders in Punjab Kings.