Kolkata Knight Riders suffered their fifth defeat in IPL 2025 against Gujarat Titans at Eden Gardens. Chasing 199 runs, the KKR batters lacked intent as Venkatesh Iyer made 14 runs off 19 balls, Rinku Singh scored 17 off 14 and Sunil Narine made 19 off 13. Captain Ajinkya Rahane played an important knock of 50 runs off 36 balls and that helped to reduce the deficit as GT beat KKR by 39 runs.
After the game, KKR mentor Dwayne Bravo noted that the batters are lacking confidence. The defending champions were phenomenal in the previous edition of the cash-rich league, playing an attacking brand of cricket throughout but in 2025, they have failed to live up to their reputation. Speaking on the same, Bravo stated that IPL is a tough tournament, and since KKR didn’t have a great start, they are now struggling with confidence.
“IPL is a tough tournament, and when you don't start well, you know, batsmen go into a period where they lose confidence. That's what's happening at the moment. So like I said, we just have to keep backing them, and hopefully they come good. Our batters, low in confidence and normally runs bring confidence. Form brings confidence. And we, at the moment, to be honest, don't have that confidence,” Bravo said in a media interaction.
“Nothing is wrong with the wicket. I didn't come here to talk about the wicket. I think both teams play on the same wicket. We didn't play a good game of cricket. They played better than us,” he asserted.
Following the defeat, KKR remain seventh on the points table with six points to their name. The Rahane-led side now needs to win all their matches to remain alive in the race to qualify for the playoffs. Up next, the team will host Punjab Kings on April 26 at Eden Gardens.