IPL 2025, KKR vs GT Highlights: Gill, Sai fifties and bowlers keep Gujarat on top; KKR’s woes deepen

IPL 2025, KKR vs GT, Highlights: Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan fifties and clinical bowling keep Gujarat Titans on top; KKR’s playoff woes deepen.

Brief Scores: GT 198/3 (Shubman Gill 90, Sai Sudharsan 52, Andre Russell 1/13) beat KKR 159/8 (Ajinkya Rahane 50, Rashid Khan 2/25, Prasidh Krishna 2/25) by 39 runs. 

Put into bat first in the 39th encounter of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, Gujarat Titans (GT) posted 198/3 in their allotted 20 overs. The 114-run opening stand between captain Shubman Gill (90) and Sai Sudharsan (52) laid down the platform before Jos Buttler (41*) provided the late acceleration. 

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) made a very poor start inside the first six overs. Ajinkya Rahane’s 50 couldn’t make much difference as they kept on losing wickets regularly in the middle overs. They ended up with 159/8, falling short of the target by 39 runs. 

Highlights from KKR vs GT game, IPL 2025 

Gill-Sudharsan give a solid opening to GT
Gujarat made a tentative start in the powerplay with just 45 runs on the board without losing any wickets. Sudharsan, in the mid-innings, revealed how challenging it was to face the new ball. Gill cracked two successive boundaries against Harshit Rana to break the jail before collecting two more fours and one six off Moeen Ali in the seventh over.

On the other hand, the Tamil Nadu batter also started to fire up a few aggressive shorts. He hammered Sunil Narine through square leg before helping the short ball over fine leg for a six. Sudharsan celebrated his fifth fifty this year and eighth in the last IPL innings. The Chennai-born, continuing his consistency, got the ‘Orange Cap’ back with 417 runs in eight innings. 

Gill, meanwhile, kept going on with his natural game, understanding the situation. In addition, he smashed Narine for a six-over deep mid-wicket besides whacking Vaibhav Arora over square leg for the same result. The Punjab-born finished with 90 runs in 55 runs, shouldering on 10 boundaries and three sixes after a few tough games. 

The 114-run opening stand was the sixth-century partnership between Sudharsan and Gill. On a surface where the old was holding a bit, the stand carried them close to 200. 

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⁠KKR spinners failed to leave an impact
When the Knight Riders claimed their third title last year, they depended a lot on the two premier spinners, Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. They shared 38 wickets between them last year at an economy rate of around seven. Even in their three victories this year, they have made a huge impact, unlike this evening. 

The Tamil Nadu spinner leaked 33 runs in four overs but didn’t get any success. Narine also experienced a flat contest with 0/36. Because of their lack of wickets in the middle overs, along with Moeen Ali (0/27), Gujarat had a set batter in the middle of a large part of the innings. 

The pacers needed to bowl more in the middle overs. Spinners’ contribution has always been the cheat code for this franchise. And this game was another example of their impact. 

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Andre Russell hardly turned up for KKR this season
Kolkata showed a lot of confidence in Andre Russell by retaining the West Indies all-rounder before the mega auction. But the veteran has collected only 55 runs in six innings this year at a strike rate of around 120. 

There were many crunch points in the game when he had the opportunity to shoulder them over the line. But sadly, the returns are quite poor. Moreover, he seems to have lost his shape against both the pacers and the spinners.  

Against Gujarat, he creamed a boundary and a six early in the innings but failed to convert it into a big knock. It will be a concern for the KKR management to sustain with the batter deep into the competition.

Way forward 
With the defeat, KKR have received a blow in their net run rate, which drops to 0.212. They are in a spot of requiring five wins in the last six group-stage encounters. And most of their games are against the powerful sides. They will stay at home to face the Punjab Kings in their next fixture on April 26 to face the Punjab Kings. 

The Titans, on the other hand, extended their dominance with a sixth win in eight games. They also stay at the top of the table with a healthy net run-rate of 1.104.

Gujarat will enjoy a week off before their upcoming encounter against the Rajasthan Royals on April 28. The game will take place at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. 

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