Kolkata Knight Riders travel to Ahmedabad looking for their first win in the Indian Premier League. Ajinkya Rahane’s side had their worst start in the history of the tournament, failing to win a single match in the first five matches. They lost four at Eden Gardens and had one of their matches washed out by rain.
KKR’s batting has been the talk of the town playing some awful cricket outside the power play in the first five matches. Against the spin, KKR looked like a deer caught in the headlights, failing to provide any impetus in the middle overs.
The problem worsened for KKR in the match against Chennai Super Kings, where their openers scored just 36 runs in the powerplay in Chennai’s meager 193-run chase. The fans did not keep them waiting for long and gave a shout out to captain Ajinkya Rahane who has absolutely failed to inspire in any of the matches this season.
It may be pointed out here that KKR bought Ajinkya Rahane in the IPL 2025 auction after letting go of Shreyas Iyer, under whom the franchise won its third title.
Unsold in the first challenge, Rahane found himself bought at a base price of Rs 1.5 crore by KKR in the second round of the auction. For some inexplicable reason, KKR ended up handing over the captaincy to a player they didn’t think was a good fit for them in the first round of sold players.
And then, after a whole season of failures, here we are. Kolkata Knight Riders are at the bottom of the points table and are looking for a solution to their problems in the Indian Premier League.
But how many problems can they solve at any given time?
KKR need to fix their batting line-up.
KKR need to find a strong batsman in the middle order.
This franchise needs to improve their death bowling to capitalize on their spin block.
A lot of problems will be faced by KKR in the form of Gujarat Titans bowling attack who created havoc in their previous game against Lucknow Super Giants. Prasidh Krishna already has 10 wickets from four games, while Rashid Khan’s spell helped GT beat Delhi Capitals in an early-season thriller.
And that does not bode well for KKR at all.
KKR TEAM NEWS
Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane said after the loss against CSK that the team will go back to the drawing board and find new combinations. But finding new combinations would probably mean that Rahane or Angkrish Raghuvanshi would have to be sacrificed from the batting line-up. Will KKR opt to rest Rahane or Angkrish? (PTI Photo)
Are KKR brave enough to call? That’s one aspect we’ll have to watch out for on Friday.
KKR have confirmed the return of fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana. but he said he will not be available for the Gujarat game.
GT TEAM NEWS
Gujarat Titans have registered two wins after a slow start to the season. Their team combination could suit KKR well as they can win against KKR’s stuttering middle order on Friday.
Rashid Khan, Glenn Phillips and Washington Sundar are adept operators in the middle overs and it will be interesting to see how KKR stack up against the spin trio in this game.
There are no injuries in the Gujarat camp at this time.
GT vs KKR: PITCH REPORT
The Ahmedabad course is expected to be suitable for chasers. The temperature is expected to cross the 40 degree Celsius mark, meaning there is likely to be dew in the second innings of the game.
GT vs KKR: PREDICTED PLAYING XI
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: Shah Rukh Khan
KKR Predicted XI: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Sunil Narine, Finn Allen/Tim Seifert (week), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Impact Player: Finn Allen/Tim Seifert (week)
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Issued by:
Debodinna Chakraborty
Published on:
17 Apr 2026 11:02 IST
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