Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), led by Ajinkya Rahane, locked the horns with the Gujarat Titans (GT) led by Shubman Gill (GT) during the 39th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
At their home – Eden Gardens in Kolkata – the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) lost against the Titans of Gujarat (GT) by 39 points on Monday, April 21.
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When you continue 199, you expect a good start to open with the strikers – Ajinkya Rahane
KKR won the draw and chose to play the first in the match. They could not reject the top 3 of GT early and ended up conceding 198 points in 20 Overs, with Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana and Andre Russell picking up a counter each.
By hunting the target, Ajinkya Rahane (50 out of 36) was the only good interpreter in the sleeves, and others fought badly, which led to the KKR limit to 159/8.
Speaking after the match, Ajinkya Rahane said that 199 was a Getable score, but the failure of the openers played a major role in their loss. He said:
“I thought that 199 was courtes, we came back very well in the game with the ball.
“I thought that 1990s on this counter, we played very well, we have wandered with our striker. We have to learn as quickly as possible and continue.”
In particular, Rahane apparently blamed Sunil Narine for KKR’s difficulties because he could not reproduce his success as a striker from last year.
We know these conditions very well, we have to beat properly – Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane added that the terrain was good, and they had to beat properly to get the result they wanted. He said:
“It was a bit slow, but we thought that if we do them below 200, it will be really good. We know these conditions very well, we have to beat properly, we have to beat well in the middle of the Overs, that’s where we have trouble.
Ajinkya Rahane also expressed his satisfaction with KKR’s Bowling performance, but urged the strikers to be more courageous.
“Fielding is a part that I always believe that we can control in a team. If you can save 10 to 15 races on the field. It is always better. You must be on; this is where we are missing. This format is to be courageous. You have to learn errors.
“As a unit of strikers, you must be courageous and take the positive mentality. It’s just a matter of time, we have quality strikers in the average order and I support them completely. Angkrish has struck very well. Today, we have pushed the other boys to raise the execution rate,” said Ajinkya Rahane.
How did KKR work in their previous IPL match finished against GT?
The previous IPL match between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Gujarat Titans was swept away. Speaking of the match before that, which took place on April 29, 2023, KKR welcomed GT in Eden Gardens in the 39th 2023 IPL match and faced a defeat with seven windows.
Beating the first in the match, the superb 81 deliveries by Rahmanullah Gurbaz helped KKR display a good total of 179/7 on the board. Gurbaz dominated GT’s attack, and despite the failures of Narayan Jagadeesan, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh, he brought his team to a respectable score.
Only Andre Russell supported him as he slammed a brilliant 34 points on 19 bullets in the overs of death. For the Titans, Mohammed Shami (3/33), Josh Little (2/25) and Noor Ahmad (21/21) emerged as the best, and they have disturbed KKR a lot.
Defending the scoring, KKR found a first hope with the counters of Andre Russell, Harshit Rana and Sunil Narine, but they could not prevent Vijay Shankar and David Miller from dominating the bat. KKR quisters have done their best, but the score was never going to be defended, and the continuation of the race was completed in 17.5 overs.