IPL match preview: Gujarat Titans v Kolkata Knight Riders
The title holders take on the two-time champions. Who might get the better of the other this time around?
Nitish Rana.Some of the biggest news out of the Gujarat camp centres around Kane Williamson. The New Zealand batsman has been ruled out of the rest of the IPL due to injury. The Titans have called up Sri Lanka all-rounder Dasun Shanaka into the squad as a replacement.
The Titans already have wins over the Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals in a promising start to their title defence. They're going to be hard pressed to make it three in three against this challenging Kolkata outfit.
Ahmedabad hosted the tournament opener and nothing since, so the pitch and square should be well rested. This could mean plenty of runs, especially for the team batting first -and successfully chasing tough targets is relatively commonplace in the IPL.
Kolkata have some absences of their own to navigate. They're without Bangladesh all-rounder and Indian batsman Shreyas Iyer. Nitish Rana's elevation to the captaincy in the absence of Iyer will again be in the spotlight.
The Titans won a tight affair in their lone outing against KKR in 2022. West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell's big showing with bat and ball proved in vain for the Knight Riders.
Russell should again be the one to watch here. He's able to turn a contest on its head in a matter of overs, mostly with the bat and reasonable regularity with the ball. Spinner Sunil Narine is another veritable match-winner for Kolkata.
The Titans can look to David Miller for significant runs. He was their top-scorer last season and is in solid form at the moment. The captaincy of Hardik Pandya, who also needs to deliver with bat and ball, will be key as well.
The Gujarat Titans are well placed to make it three in three and continue their stride as favourites for a second consecutive title. Pandya, Miller, Rashid Khan and even Ireland's Josh Little just look too good as a collective against the imbalanced Knight Riders.