IPL 2025: Sublime Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan lead thrashing of KKR as GT remain on top of table

IPL 2025, KKR vs GT: Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan shine at Eden Gardens. (Photo: IPL)

Gujarat Titans (GT) romped to the top of the Indian Premier League (IPL) table with a convincing 39-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. In the process, they dealt a severe blow to KKR’s hopes of retaining the title they won last season. This was a fifth defeat in eight games for the reigning champions, and another miserable display on home turf.

GT’s win was once again founded on their fabulous top 3, all of whom sussed the conditions and batting accordingly. Shubman Gill led from the front with a 55-ball 90, and his opening partnership of 114 (75 balls) with Sai Sudharsan was the foundation for another excellent all-round display. After Sudharsan, who laced some gorgeous drives through the covers, fell for a 36-ball 52, Gill and the red-hot Jos Buttler added 58 in just 33 balls.

Gill struck 10 fours and three sixes in his 90, while Buttler finished with an unbeaten 41 (23 balls). GT made 69 runs off KKR’s spin twins – Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine – while keeping them wicketless, and they took heavy toll of some wayward pace bowling from Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora.

KKR needed a turbo-charged start, and didn’t get it, with Rahmanullah Gurbaz trapped in front in Mohammed Siraj’s opening over. Gurbaz had replaced Quinton de Kock, but neither he nor Narine could match the exploits of GT’s openers. As long as Ajinkya Rahane, KKR’s captain, was at the crease, they harboured some hope, but when he fell for 50 (36 balls), stumped by Buttler off a Washington Sundar wide, the innings quickly fell apart.

Rashid Khan started the season poorly, but was very much back to something like his best in Kolkata, dismissing the West Indian duo of Narine and Andre Russell on his way to figures of 2/25. Prasidh Krishna, who dismissed both Moeen Ali and Ramandeep Singh cheaply, was equally impressive and returned identical figures.

KKR’s vaunted middle order, one of their great strengths last season, was a damp squib yet again. Venkatesh Iyer, a 23-crore buy at the auction, laboured to 14 off 19 balls, while Russell (21 off 15 balls) now has 55 runs for the season. Rinku Singh also struggled, and it needed a sprightly 13-ball 27 from Angkrish Raghuvanshi, the impact substitute, to lend the scoreline some respectability.

Some much of the narrative around KKR this season has centred on the pitches at Eden and an alleged uncooperative curator, Sujan Mukherjee. But with the bowling so listless and the big hitters firing blanks, the team would do well to stop pointing fingers and look within.