GT vs KKR, Match 25 Preview: Kolkata in do-or-die clash, Titans ride on momentum; check head-to-head, pitch report, more

Gujarat Titans host Kolkata Knight Riders at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday, 17 April, at 7:30 PM IST in Match 25 of IPL 2026. The stakes could not be more different for these two sides.

GT are on a two-match winning streak. They are growing in confidence after a sluggish start and are chasing a hat-trick of wins that would push them firmly into top-4 contention.

KKR have one point from five games. Anything other than a win on Friday does not just put them in trouble, it puts them in the kind of trouble that requires a mathematical miracle to escape. This is the most urgent match of KKR's season, and they know it.

Head-to-Head Record

GT lead the all-time head-to-head 3-1 across four completed meetings, with 1 no-result (the 2024 match was abandoned without a ball bowled). GT's highest score in this fixture is 204; KKR's highest is 207. The lowest scores are 198 (GT) and 148 (KKR).

The full season-by-season record: GT won by 8 runs in 2022. In 2023, KKR won one (by 3 wickets), and GT won the other (by 7 wickets). In 2024, the match was abandoned. In 2025, GT won by 39 runs.

This is not a rivalry with a large sample size, but GT's dominance in it is clear. They have won 3 of the 4 completed meetings. They are on home turf with the form and confidence KKR desperately lack.

Team News: Predicted XI

GT have no injury concerns and are expected to field the same XI that beat LSG by seven wickets in their previous game. They have yet to field Jason Holder this season and are sticking with continuity.

Holder, who took the most T20 wickets in the 2025 calendar year, remains an intriguing option for later in the tournament. But, GT are not breaking what is currently working.

GT's probable XI: Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan open, Jos Buttler at No. 3, Washington Sundar at No. 4, Glenn Phillips at No. 5, Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ashok Sharma, Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj (Impact Player).

For KKR, Matheesha Pathirana has received his NOC from Sri Lanka Cricket but will not be available for this game due to logistical reasons. The big structural question remains: how does KKR best deploy Sunil Narine?

After being promoted to opener in the CSK match, a tactical move to deter Akeal Hosein, that decision pushed Ajinkya Rahane, KKR's best powerplay batter, down the order. Whether they persist with Narine as opener or reset the batting order is the central selection debate. Varun Chakravarthy's form remains an ongoing concern.

KKR's probable XI: Finn Allen/Tim Seifert and Sunil Narine open, Ajinkya Rahane at No. 3, Angkrish Raghuvanshi at No. 4, Cameron Green, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Rovman Powell, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi and Varun Chakravarthy (IP).

Key Players to Watch

Prasidh Krishna has been GT's quiet match-winner of IPL 2026. He is the joint-highest wicket-taker in the tournament this season and has outbowled both Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada in GT's wins. His slow-and-short delivery has specifically been the weapon that has troubled opposition batters. He will be the key threat to KKR's batting unit on Friday.

Rinku Singh is the player KKR most need to see at his best. He was elevated to vice-captain at the start of the season. But, the on-field returns have not matched that endorsement. In 4 innings, he has hit just one 6 with a strike rate of 120. It’s a shadow of his reputation as one of the IPL's most dangerous finishers.

The emotional pull of this ground is significant for him. It was here, at Narendra Modi Stadium, that he hit five consecutive sixes in the 20th over in one of the most famous finishes in IPL history. KKR need that Rinku again, urgently.

Sunil Narine's bowling is the one area where KKR have shown genuine improvement. He has regained his magic touch, and on a surface where spinners get limited assistance, his ability to extract something from nothing with pace and variation will be crucial to KKR's hopes.

Rashid Khan has been in his best form for GT in IPL 2026, with an economy of 6.9, his best in GT colours. The pattern is revealing: in GT's wins, his economy is 7.0. In their losses, it rises to 8.4. He is both a leading indicator and a mirror of GT's performance.

His battle against KKR's middle order in the middle overs, specifically against Cameron Green and Angkrish Raghuvanshi, will be central to whether GT put on another complete performance.

Anukul Roy's left-arm orthodox spin offers KKR a specific weapon against Jos Buttler. From January 2026 to the end of the T20 World Cup, Buttler struck at just 92 against left-arm finger-spin. He was dismissed 4 times by this bowling type out of 10 total dismissals in that period. It is a clear and exploitable weakness that KKR's bowling plans will be built around.

Pitch Report

Surface + grass: Narendra Modi Stadium has hosted 45 IPL matches, with the last T20 played here on 4 April 2026. Shubman Gill missed that GT vs RR encounter due to a muscle spasm.

The average score batting first is 177.96, at 9.00 runs per over, one of the highest among all regular IPL venues. The highest team total here is 243/5 by Punjab Kings against GT in 2025. T

he highest run chase achieved is 204/3 by GT against DC in 2025. Teams batting first have won 23 of 45 matches (51.11%) while chasing sides have won 22 (48.89%).

New ball (3–4 overs): This is the first game on Pitch No. 6 at Narendra Modi Stadium. During the T20 World Cup, it was described as a superb wicket to bat on, with pace bowlers generating extra bounce when they hit the deck hard. There is some early swing, but it fades quickly. The surface is a true batter's pitch.

Middle overs: Spinners should not expect significant assistance. This is a pace-favourable, bounce-friendly surface where orthodox spin is largely peripheral. Narine and Rashid rely on pace variation and subtle deception rather than conventional turn. They are likely to be more effective than any conventional slow bowler.

Dew + toss call: Despite the broadly even batting-first vs batting-second record, the pitch advice: win toss, chase. Dew in the evening at Ahmedabad will assist the chasing side in the back half of their innings. Bowling first is the instinctive call at this ground in a night match.

Par score range: The average first-innings score of 177.96 is the realistic baseline. But,

modern IPL scoring rates push the competitive range significantly higher. Anything from 190 to 210 batting first is competitive.

A total above 210 on this ground, with the outfield fast and boundaries large at the straight ends, would put serious pressure on any chasing side. The square boundaries, however, are big enough to punish aerial shots in that direction.

The winless take on the rival at their home in the world's largest cricket stadium. Rinku Singh is back at the ground where he created IPL legend.

The KKR season will end in all but name if they lose tonight. Match 25 carries more weight than almost any match played at the group stage so far.