GT vs KKR Live: Siraj, Rabada strike early for Gujarat as Kolkata Knight Riders woes deepen in powerplay

Two wickets in two overs. An outside edge and Angkrish Raghuvanshi caught behind.

Kagiso Rabada strikes on the last ball of the second over after getting hit for a six and a four.

Raghuvanshi scored 8 off 4 balls. Cameron Green is the next batter.

KKR - 21/2 in 2 overs

Ajinkya Rahane hits straight up in the air off Mohammed Siraj and throws away his wicket. A golden duck for KKR captain today.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi - 4 off 2 balls

Tim Seifert - 5 off 4 balls

KKR - 9/1 in 1 over

Openers Ajinkya Rahane and Tim Seifert are in the middle to get things going.

Mohammed Siraj to bowl the first over of the match.

"We will look to bat first. We just want our batters to play freely, with freedom. The kind of tournament we’ve had so far, we’ve tried everything, chasing targets, batting first as well. I thought giving that freedom to the batters and then defending the total would be a good approach. That (batting first is a good option) is what I got to know. But again, sometimes you don’t have to depend too much on data and stats. It’s all about what you feel as a team and what you strongly want to do. As I said, the kind of tournament we’ve had so far, we just want to turn it around."

"I always feel the weather is getting a bit hotter, so there might be some dew around. We haven’t seen it in the past 3-4 matches that we’ve played, but as we get deeper into the tournament, with the weather getting hotter, there might be some dew. Even in the last match, I think our batting collapsed in the middle, we lost five wickets from overs 11 to 15. Otherwise, it should have been a pretty comfortable chase against Rajasthan Royals."

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

GT: Tim Seifert, Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi

Captains Shubman Gill and Ajinkya Rahane are in the middle at Narendra Modi Stadium for the toss.

Rahane wins the toss and Kolkata Knight Riders decide to bat first

One change for KKR, Tim Seifert replaces Finn Allen. GT remain unchanged.

Gujarat Titans have signed South African wicketkeeper batter Connor Esterhuizen as an injury replacement of Tom Banton. Connor Esterhuizen cost INR 75 lakh and will play as a backup option to Jos Buttler.

Matheesha Pathirana, who cost KKR INR 18 crore in the auction, is set to join the team today. He received a NOC from Sri Lanka Cricket last week and is arriving in India today.

He will not be part of the team today, but his arrival boosts KKR's depleted pace attack for the remainder of the season.

Gujarat Titans are likely to field the same eleven that thrashed LSG, but KKR are expected to make some changes to their team to find the winning combination.

Gujarat Titans: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Ashok Sharma, Prasidh Krishna

Impact Player: Shahrukh Khan

Kolkata Knight Riders: Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Rachin Ravindra, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakravarthy, Kartik Tyagi

Impact Player: Vaibhav Arora

Gujarat Titans lead the head-to-head battle with 3 wins in 5 meetings against Kolkata Knight Riders.

• Matches Played - 5
• KKR Won - 1
• GT Won - 3
• NR - 1

After losing two opening game, Gujarat Titans' campaign came under pressure, but Shubman Gill stuck to the basics and the team is fighting back like the titans.

The Titans defeated Lucknow Super Giants by easily chasing down a 165-run target in their last game. Earlier they defended 210 runs against Delhi Capitals to show their improvement with the ball. Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler are finding regular runs and Sai Sudharsan needs just need that one knock to regain the confidence.

The biggest tirnaround is Washington Sundar's form with the bat. The all-rounder, batting at No. 4, has scored 98 runs at a strike rate of 155.55. Fans are expecting more from out-of-form Rahul Tewatia and Shahrukh Khan, and also their No. 5 Glenn Phillips.

With the ball, Prasidh Krishna is leading the Orange Cap race with 10 wickets and Rashid Khan is slowly regaining his form. Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada's poor form has been overshadowed by Prasidh's wickets and Ashok Sharma's pace so far this season.

Kolkata Knight Riders are the only team without a win this season so far. With four losses and one washed out game, the Knight Riders are placed at the bottom of the points table. This is the first time the three-time champions have not won any of their opening five matches. So, with 9 group-stage games remaining, they need to win at least 7 to stay alive in the playoff scenarios. But right now, they just need to get it going with a win today.

KKR suffered a 32-run loss against CSK in their last game. Cameron Green and Finn Allen's poor campaign continued with below average performances with the bat. Varun Chakravarthy's wicketless season continued and the fast bowlers struggled with three wickets combined. There are a lot of questions need to be answered rather sooner than later.

Ajinkya Rahane's leadership skills are also the talk of the town, but two points today will celarly boost his confidence going into the second half of the season.

Titans ready to defend their home turf 💙
Knights marching in to get their first win 💜

Ahmedabad is ready for #GTvKKR 🏟️#TATAIPL | #KhelBindaas | @gujarat_titans | @KKRiders pic.twitter.com/ffFz3WcXPV

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 17, 2026