GT vs KKR Preview: More misery for Kolkata? Rahane set to face spin test in Gujarat

Kolkata Knight Riders travel to Ahmedabad in search of their first win in the Indian Premier League. Ajinkya Rahane’s side have had their worst start in the history of the tournament, failing to win a single game in their first five matches. They have lost four and have had one of their games washed away by rain at the Eden Gardens.

KKR’s batters have been the talking point in the first five games, playing some terrible cricket outside of the powerplay. Against spin, KKR have looked like deer caught in the headlights, failing to provide any impetus in the middle overs.

The problem compounded for KKR in the match against Chennai Super Kings, where their openers scored just 36 runs in the powerplay in a modest chase of 193 runs in Chennai. The fans did not take long to lash out at captain Ajinkya Rahane, who has totally failed to inspire in any of the matches this season.

It is perhaps here that it needs to be pointed out that KKR bought Ajinkya Rahane in the IPL 2025 auction after letting go of Shreyas Iyer, under whom the franchise won their third title.

Unsold in the first call, Rahane found himself bought at the base price of Rs 1.5 crore by KKR in the second round of the auction. For some inexplicable reason, KKR ended up handing the captaincy to a player they thought was not the right fit for them in the first round of the players being sold.

And then, a full season of failure later, here we are. Kolkata Knight Riders are at the bottom of the points table, searching for solutions to their problems in the Indian Premier League.

But how many problems can they solve at a given time?

KKR need to fix their batting line-up.

KKR need to find a strong hitter in the middle order.

The franchise needs to better their death bowling to capitalise on their spin block.

With issues aplenty, KKR will be facing an in-form bowling attack of Gujarat Titans, who wreaked havoc in their previous match against Lucknow Super Giants. Prasidh Krishna already has 10 wickets from four games, while Rashid Khan’s spell helped GT beat Delhi Capitals in a thriller earlier in the season.

And that does not bode well for KKR at all.

KKR TEAM NEWS

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane had said after their loss against CSK that the team will go back to the drawing board and find new combinations. But finding new combinations would likely mean that Rahane or Angkrish Raghuvanshi might need to be sacrificed from the batting line-up.

Are KKR bold enough to make that call? That is one aspect that we will need to watch out for on Friday.

KKR have confirmed the return of fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana, but have said that he will not be available for the Gujarat game.

GT TEAM NEWS

Gujarat Titans are coming off two back-to-back wins after a slow start to the season. Their team combination might be well suited to playing KKR, as they can bowl out their spinners against a stuttering KKR middle order on Friday.

Rashid Khan, Glenn Phillips, and Washington Sundar are able operators in the middle overs, and it will be interesting to see how KKR approach the spin trio in this game.

There are no injuries in the Gujarat camp at the moment.

GT vs KKR: PITCH REPORT

The Ahmedabad pitch is expected to be suitable for chases. The temperature is expected to breach the 40 degree Celsius mark, which means that there will likely be dew in the second innings of the game.

GT vs KKR: PREDICTED PLAYING XIs

GT Predicted XI: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Manav Suthar/Ashok Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

Impact Player: Shahrukh Khan

KKR Predicted XI: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Sunil Narine, Finn Allen/Tim Seifert (wk), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakaravarthy

Impact Player: Finn Allen/Tim Seifert (wk)

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