Captain Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan proved their class with excellent knocks as table-topper Gujarat Titans outplayed defending champion Kolkata Knight Riders by 39 runs to record its sixth victory in IPL 2025 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Monday (April 21, 2025).
The right-left opening pair’s century stand helped GT, put in to bat, accumulate 198 for three. KKR ended up with 159 for eight to taste its second successive defeat, and third in four home matches in front of a packed house.
Earlier, with Vaibhav Arora and Moeen Ali sharing the new ball, KKR did not let GT gain much ground.
As the ball stopped a bit, Gill and Sai Sudharsan, adopting a risk-free approach, rotated the strike and punished the loose deliveries to gather 45 in the first six overs of PowerPlay.
Gill (90, 55b, 10×4, 3×6) broke free in the seventh, plundering 17 runs, including a six and two fours consecutively, off Moeen to signal GT’s acceleration.
On his former home ground, Gill, who took 12 balls to get his first boundary, was a treat to watch when he played the cuts and pulls.
An in-form Sudharsan (52, 36b, 6×4, 1×6) showed his range, finding the gaps spectacularly on the off-side before producing fine hits on the onside.
Notwithstanding the humid conditions, the GT openers ran hard to frustrate the host in a 74-ball 114-run partnership.
Andre Russell broke the stand by having Orange Cap holder Sai Sudharsan, who scored his fifth fifty, caught behind.
Gill gathered 58 off 33 balls with a clean-hitting Jos Buttler (41 n.o., 23b, 8×4), who was dropped twice.
Gill, who was dismissed off a Vaibhav full-toss, missed out on a century.
KKR’s reply was not ideal. Mohammed Siraj trapped wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz in front of the wicket and Rashid Khan removed Sunil Narine in the PowerPlay.
With the GT bowlers keeping it tight and fielders preventing boundaries for 36 deliveries in the middle overs, the required rate piled up.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane’s lone battle was in vain as KKR suffered its fifth loss in eight games.
Rashid and Prasidh Krishna shone for GT with a couple of wickets each.
SCOREBOARD
GUJARAT TITANS
B. Sai Sudharsan c Gurbaz b Russell 52 (36b, 6×4, 1×6), Shubman Gill c Rinku b Vaibhav 90 (55b, 10×4, 3×6), Jos Buttler (not out) 41 (23b, 8×4), Rahul Tewatia c Ramandeep b Harshit 0 (2b), M. Shahrukh Khan (not out) 11 (5b, 1×6); Extras (nb-1, w-3): 4; Total (for three wkts. in 20 overs): 198.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-114 (Sai Sudharsan, 12.2), 2-172 (Gill, 17.5), 3-177 (Tewatia, 18.3).
KNIGHT RIDERS BOWLING
Vaibhav 4-0-44-1, Moeen 3-0-27-0, Harshit 4-0-45-1, Varun 4-0-33-0, Narine 4-0-36-0, Russell 1-0-13-1.
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
Rahmanullah Gurbaz lbw b Siraj 1 (4b), Sunil Narine c Tewatia b Rashid 17 (13b, 2×4, 1×6), Ajinkya Rahane st. Buttler b Washington 50 (36b, 5×4, 1×6), Venkatesh Iyer c Washington b Sai Kishore 14 (19b), Rinku Singh c Gill b Ishant 17 (14b, 1×4, 1×6), Andre Russell st. Buttler b Rashid 21 (15b, 3×4, 1×6), Ramandeep Singh c & b Prasidh 1 (2b), Moeen Ali c Shahrukh b Prasidh 0 (2b), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (Impact Player for Vaibhav) (not out) 27 (13b, 3×4, 1×6), Harshit Rana (not out) 1 (2b); Extras (lb-4, w-6): 10; Total (for eight wkts. in 20 overs): 159.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-2 (Gurbaz, 0.5), 2-43 (Narine, 5.3), 3-84 (Venkatesh, 11.3), 4-91 (Rahane, 12.3), 5-118 (Russell, 15.5), 6-119 (Ramandeep, 16.1), 7-119 (Moeen, 16.3), 8-151 (Rinku, 19.1).
TITANS BOWLING
Siraj 4-0-32-1, Ishant (Impact Player for Rutherford) 2-0-18-1, Prasidh 4-0-25-2, Rashid 4-0-25-2, Washington 3-0-36-1, Sai Kishore 3-0-19-1.
Toss: KKR; PoM: Gill.
Titans won by 39 runs.
Published – April 21, 2025 09:33 pm IST
