🏏IPL 2025,M 39 KKR vs GT on Apr21.7.30PM @Eden gardens, Kolkata🏏

IPL 2025 – Match 39: Gujarat Titans vs Kolkata Knight Riders | April 21, 7:30 PM IST | Eden Gardens, Kolkata

The home team, KKR, is coming off a disappointing defeat to Punjab Kings, where they were bowled out for a mere 95 while chasing just 112. Despite being heavy favourites at 62/2, they suffered a surprising collapse, thanks to quality bowling from Yuzvendra Chahal and pacers Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansen. This loss exposed KKR's vulnerability under pressure and their inconsistent batting. However, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine, and Harshit Rana have impressed with the ball, especially in the middle overs. The Ajinkya Rahane-led side is currently in sixth place with three wins from seven games.

On the other hand, the Gujarat Titans have been a solid unit this season, especially with their batting. In their latest clash, GT chased down a 204-run target against Delhi Capitals, thanks to Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 97 off 51 balls. His knock was instrumental in scripting GT’s first successful chase of a 200+ target. Valuable support from Sai Sudharsan and Sherfane Rutherford helped steady the ship in the middle overs, while Rahul Tewatia provided the finishing touches. GT’s bowling has also held firm in crucial phases, with Prasidh Krishna and Sai Kishore playing key roles in containing opposition batters.

Preview

The defending champions have had anything but a smooth start to the 2025 season. It's never easy to defend a title successfully, more so when a mega auction has happened few months after the title-winning season. Losing players is inevitable and there was also this hotly debated move to not retain their trophy-winning skipper Shreyas Iyer. KKR also had lost their mentor Gautam Gambhir who took over as the head coach of the men's senior team. Amidst all this, add the spice of not getting their preferred surfaces at home - a story that has been happening for a while now - and you get a whole messy picture.

At their halfway point of the campaign, KKR have three wins and four losses, a slightly below-average first half of the season. However, they'd know that they can still turn things around as momentum is a volatile term in T20 cricket, it can turn around at any moment. For that, though, the batting will need to show more flexibility. The one major problem with KKR's batting line-up is their obvious vulnerability against spin bowling. Apart from Sunil Narine (who is a spin slogger) and Venkatesh Iyer, the other batters aren't comfortable starters against spin.

This problem has caused them trouble already as witnessed in their historic choke against PBKS, a game that recorded the lowest ever IPL total to be successfully defended. It is a kind of defeat that can damage the morale and unless they find a stop-gap solution, things could get worse. The lower middle order has underperformed heavily and this is another area that KKR will need to address as they head into the business end of the season. Their spin attack, however, remains formidable and is one of their lone bright spots this season so far.

The defending champions will face a big test as they take on the Gujarat Titans who have statistically been the best players of spin this season by a country mile. This sets up for an epic battle that could virtually decide the contest.

The Titans have had a smooth ride so far with five wins from seven games and look primed to book a playoff berth in the coming week or so. Even with skipper Shubman Gill yet to go full throttle, GT have performed admirably with the bat thanks to the stupendous form of Jos Buttler and Sai Sudharsan. The top-order has done bulk of the job and it has meant that their lower middle order hasn't really been tested a great deal. They do, however, have a lot of firepower in the tank if needed. In the bowling department, Rashid Khan, just like Gill, has been patchy but the other bowlers have come to the party.

GT's strength has been the efforts of their pace bowlers, notably Prasidh Krishna who has had a standout season till this point. Mohammed Siraj has also delivered in a few games while Sai Kishore has shouldered the responsibility of being the wicket-taking spinner with his senior partner Rashid having a lean patch. In terms of form, team composition and morale, the Titans are heavy favourites in this clash but KKR have quite a few superstars whose individual brilliance can take apart any opposition on their day.

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.

What to expect: Pitches have generally been good for batting with good pace and carry on offer. The short boundary dimensions have further enhanced powerhitting, like in recent seasons. The only aberration was the clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad as the pitch in that contest had something in it for the spinners. KKR have been vocal about getting those kind of tracks at home but whether they will get their wish is anybody's guess. Also, with Rashid Khan and Sai Kishore in the opposition ranks, a proper turner might be a recipe for disaster.

Team news

Kolkata Knight Riders

Injuries/Unavailability: No injuries or availability issues have been reported for KKR.

Tactics and Matchups: Sunil Narine has dismissed Shubman Gill twice in 12 deliveries, conceding just 13 runs in the bargain. The West Indian has also managed to keep Jos Buttler quiet, conceding just 61 runs off 57 balls with one dismissal. Given the latter's terrific matchup stats against the other KKR bowlers, including Varun Chakaravarthy, and GT's overdependence on their top order, Narine will be a key figure in this contest.

Probable XII: Sunil Narine, Quinton de Kock(wk), Ajinkya Rahane(c), Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Anrich Nortje, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy.

Gujarat Titans

Injury/Unavailability: Kagiso Rabada continues to be unavailable after flying home for a personal emergency.

Tactics and Matchups:

Gujarat Titans have the best average (52.37) and strike rate (162.4) against spin for any team this season. They also have the best cumulative average (49.72) by any team's top-three this year. How they line-up against the best spin attack of IPL 2025 will be crucial. Jos Buttler will be a key figure, not just due to his stellar form but also due to his extremely favourable strike rate matchup against KKR's bowlers. His strike-rate against Chakaravarthy is 190 while it shoots up to 212.50 against Anrich Nortje and 215.78 against Andre Russell. The former England captain also has two IPL centuries against the defending champions, both at this venue.

Probable XII: Shubman Gill(c), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler(wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Arshad Khan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Ishant Sharma/Washington Sundar

Originally posted by: SoniRita

IPL 2025 – Match 39: Gujarat Titans vs Kolkata Knight Riders | April 21, 7:30 PM IST | Eden Gardens, Kolkata

The home team, KKR, is coming off a disappointing defeat to Punjab Kings, where they were bowled out for a mere 95 while chasing just 112. Despite being heavy favourites at 62/2, they suffered a surprising collapse, thanks to quality bowling from Yuzvendra Chahal and pacers Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansen. This loss exposed KKR's vulnerability under pressure and their inconsistent batting. However, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine, and Harshit Rana have impressed with the ball, especially in the middle overs. The Ajinkya Rahane-led side is currently in sixth place with three wins from seven games.

On the other hand, the Gujarat Titans have been a solid unit this season, especially with their batting. In their latest clash, GT chased down a 204-run target against Delhi Capitals, thanks to Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 97 off 51 balls. His knock was instrumental in scripting GT’s first successful chase of a 200+ target. Valuable support from Sai Sudharsan and Sherfane Rutherford helped steady the ship in the middle overs, while Rahul Tewatia provided the finishing touches. GT’s bowling has also held firm in crucial phases, with Prasidh Krishna and Sai Kishore playing key roles in containing opposition batters.

Thanks Soni for the tag and thread looking forward to the thread and rooting for GT!

Form guide

Kolkata Knight Riders LWLWL (last five matches, most recent first)

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.

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.

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.

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.

Did you know?

*KKR tops the list for best economy by spin attacks (6.51 RPO) and are the only team to not to concede at 8 RPO or above

*GT's top-three has aggregated 69.86 of their team's runs this season (excluding extras).

*Jos Buttler has two tons and a fifty from seven innings at Eden Gardens and has a strike rate of 165, significantly higher than his career IPL SR of 148.74.

What they said

"Everyone knows that Shubman (Gill) is a world class batter. When things get difficult, he always makes runs." - Rahul Tewatia is fully confident of his skipper striking form soon.

"We played bad cricket as a batting unit.I take this responsibility as a captain as wecouldn't chase this down. But individually, I am sure all the players, especially batters,will think about their own game and improve in the upcoming matches." Ajinkya Rahane is honest about his team's mistakes.