Gujarat Titans have maintained their unbeaten record at Kolkata Knight Riders' home Eden Gardens after handing the defending champions a drubbing in the 39th match of the Indian Premier League 2025. GT, the table toppers, unleashed a brilliant all-round game as they defeated KKR by 39 runs.
Led by strong knocks from Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler and impressive bowling performances from the likes of Prasidh Krishna, Rashid Khan and Sai Kishore, GT made light work of the defending champions to keep bossing the top spot in the points table. They have extended their stranglehold at the top of the standings and now have 12 points from eight matches.
Also, GT remain unbeaten at KKR's home, having won all three of their fixtures at the venue. They defeated Rajasthan Royals in the 2022 Qualifier 1 and have two wins against the Knight Riders at the venue.
KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane had won the toss and had opted to bowl first. GT openers Sai Sudharsan and captain Shubman Gill took the team off to a fine start. They kept maneuvering their way and made KKR look clueless. Rahane threw almost everything he had to separate the opening partnership but Andre Russell managed to provide the breakthrough after they had put up a 114-run stand.
Sudhasaran was dismissed after edging behind one off Russell, however, Gill carried on. The GT skipper was close on another IPL hundred before Vaibhav Arora ended his stay 10 short of a ton on the back of a spectacular fielding effort from Rinku Singh at deep mid-wicket.
Jos Buttler played another strong cameo as he made 41 from 23 balls, laced with eight fours. He helped GT post a strong total of 198/3.
Kolkata, who fielded a new opening combination in Sunil Narine and Rahmanullah, were hardly in the chase. They lost Gurbaz in the first over to Mohammed Siraj, while Narine also fell inside the powerplay. Ajinkya Rahane kept the hopes alive with his fifty, however, he could not do much with the required rate rising high. Rahane was dismissed for 50 as KKR looked to Andre Russell for a magic.
However, Russell, was not timing the ball well. He hit three four and a six but could not do much and was stumped out too. Angrish Raghuvanshi came in as an impact sub at No.9 and made 27 from 13 balls, however, he could only mitigate the loss to 39 runs.