Shubman Gill smashed 90, Rashid GT Outclass returned to Form as Kkr

Gujarat Titans consolidated their top spot in the IPL 2025 points table with their 6th win in 8 matches after defeating defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on Monday.

The GT win was fashioned by their captain Shubman Gill’s 90 and a half-century by current Orange Cap holder Sai Sudharsan. Jos Buttler continued to boss the bowlers with another fine innings but the most pleasing aspect for the Titans was the return to form of Rashid Khan.

Rashid was lucky to get his first wicket when Sunil Narine hit a short ball straight to Rahul Tewatia at square leg, but from thereon, the Afghan leg-spinner was all over KKR and even picked the wicket of the dangerman Andre Russell to end any hope for the hosts.

How not to chase a target

The KKR innings was a lesson in how not to start a chase of 199. Rahmanullah Gurbaz, playing his first game of the season was trapped lbw by Mohammed Siraj but he wasted a review. Sunil Narine scored 17 at a strike-rate of 130.76 and Venkatesh Iyer scored 14 off 19 balls.

Ajinkya Rahane took 35 balls to get to his fifty before being outfoxed by Washington Sundar. Andre Russell came and hit 21 off 15 but by the time Rashid Khan dismissed him to get his second wicket, Rinku Singh had played out 8 balls without a single boundary and KKR were left needing 81 off 25 balls.

An already difficult task became impossible when Prasidh Krishna dismissed Ramandeep Singh and Moeen Ali in the space of three balls in the 17th over.

GT’s top-order saves middle-order again

GT have relied on their top-three to steer the batting this season and they did not disappoint in a crucial game. Shubman Gill missed out at his home venue after a mix-up with Sai Sudharsan but at Eden Gardens, his old IPL home ground, Gill scored a polished 90 off 55. He was dismissed in the 18th over for his 6th dismissal in the 90s in the IPL.

Sai Sudharsan continued his dream run and hit another half-century to take the Orange Cap while Jos Buttler followed up an unbeaten 97 to score 41 not out.

KKR have built their entire bowling line-up around Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine but the two mystery spinners went wicketless as their 8 overs went for 69.

GT were so dominant in their innings that they lost only 3 wickets – Andre Russell dismissed Sudharsan to break a 114-run stand before Vaibhav Arora denied Gill a hundred. Harshit Rana dismissed Rahul Tewatia for a duck.