IPL-2025: Kolkata Knight Riders to face Gujarat Titans at Eden Gardens in Kolkata
The defending champions have had anything but a smooth start to the 2025 season. It’s never easy to defend a title successfully, more so when a mega auction has happened few months after the title-winning season. Losing players is inevitable and there was also this hotly debated move to not retain their trophy-winning skipper Shreyas Iyer.
KKR also had lost their mentor Gautam Gambhir who took over as the head coach of the men’s senior team. Amidst all this, add the spice of not getting their preferred surfaces at home – a story that has been happening for a while now – and you get a whole messy picture.
At their halfway point of the campaign, KKR have three wins and four losses, a slightly below-average first half of the season. However, they’d know that they can still turn things around as momentum is a volatile term in T20 cricket, it can turn around at any moment. For that, though, the batting will need to show more flexibility.
The one major problem with KKR’s batting line-up is their obvious vulnerability against spin bowling. Apart from Sunil Narine (who is a spin slogger) and Venkatesh Iyer, the other batters aren’t comfortable starters against spin.
This problem has caused them trouble already as witnessed in their historic choke against PBKS, a game that recorded the lowest ever IPL total to be successfully defended. It is a kind of defeat that can damage the morale and unless they find a stop-gap solution, things could get worse.
The lower middle order has underperformed heavily and this is another area that KKR will need to address as they head into the business end of the season. Their spin attack, however, remains formidable and is one of their lone bright spots this season so far.
The defending champions will face a big test as they take on the Gujarat Titans who have statistically been the best players of spin this season by a country mile. This sets up for an epic battle that could virtually decide the contest.
The Titans have had a smooth ride so far with five wins from seven games and look primed to book a playoff berth in the coming week or so. Even with skipper Shubman Gill yet to go full throttle, GT have performed admirably with the bat thanks to the stupendous form of Jos Buttler and Sai Sudharsan.
The top-order has done bulk of the job and it has meant that their lower middle order hasn’t really been tested a great deal. They do, however, have a lot of firepower in the tank if needed. In the bowling department, Rashid Khan, just like Gill, has been patchy but the other bowlers have come to the party.
GT’s strength has been the efforts of their pace bowlers, notably Prasidh Krishna who has had a standout season till this point. Mohammed Siraj has also delivered in a few games while Sai Kishore has shouldered the responsibility of being the wicket-taking spinner with his senior partner Rashid having a lean patch. In terms of form, team composition and morale, the Titans are heavy favourites in this clash but KKR have quite a few superstars whose individual brilliance can take apart any opposition on their day.
