Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Gujarat Titans (GT) will lock horns in Match No.39 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Saturday, April 29 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
The Knight Riders, led by Nitish Rana, are placed seventh in the table with six points and a net run rate of -0.027. They had found themselves in all sorts of trouble after losing four matches on the trot. But the Men in Gold and Purple got back to winning ways after beating Faf du Plessis’ Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 21 runs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
The Titans, led by Hardik Pandya, on the other hand, are placed second in the table with 10 points and a net run rate of +0.580 thanks to victories in five out of seven matches. They will be high on confidence as they will be going into their next game after beating Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians (MI) by 55 runs in their previous match.
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KKR vs GT head-to-head record
The two teams have a very short history, but there has not been any dearth of excitement when these two sides have met in the IPL.
Here is a look at how the current KKR vs GT head-to-head record stands:
| Matches Played | 2 |
| KKR won | 1 |
| GT won | 1 |
| Tie | 0 |
| No result | 0 |
KKR vs GT IPL match results
Both the Knight Riders and the Titans have won one match apiece. Hence, for the time being, there is nothing to separate the two teams.
Here is a more detailed look at how this rivalry has unfolded:
| DATE | WINNER | MARGIN | VENUE |
| April 09,2023 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 3 wickets | Ahmedabad |
| April 23,2022 | Gujarat Titans | 8 runs | Mumbai |
KKR vs GT IPL stats
Most runs
Venkatesh Iyer is the leading run-scorer in matches between the two teams. Rinku Singh and Hardik Pandya have scored 67 runs apiece. Vijay Shankar and Sai Sudharsan, who are a part of the Titans, also feature in the list.
| Player Name | Runs |
| Venkatesh Iyer | 100 |
| Rinku Singh | 67 |
| Hardik Pandya | 67 |
| Vijay Shankar | 63 |
| Sai Sudharsan | 53 |
Most wickets
Rashid Khan is the leading wicket-taker in matches between the Knight Riders and the Titans. The leg-spinner has five wickets to his name from two matches. Rashid is the only spinner among the top five bowlers. The others are Andre Russell, Tim Southee, Mohammed Shami and Alzarri Joseph.
| Player Name | Wickets |
| Rashid Khan | 5 |
| Andre Russell | 4 |
| Tim Southee | 3 |
| Mohammed Shami | 3 |
| Alzarri Joseph | 3 |
Best match in the Kolkata Knight Riders vs Gujarat Titans head-to-head
Back on April 9, the Knights and the Titans were involved in an absolute humdinger. Just when it seemed that the Titans would romp to victory, Rinku Singh produced one of the greatest finishing acts in the history of T20 cricket to take the Knights past the finishing line.
Here is a look at how the match unfolded:
After opting to bat first, the Titans racked up a massive score of 204 for the loss of four wickets in 20 overs. Vijay Shankar was their standout batter after he scored 63 runs off 24 balls with four fours and five sixes. It was on the back of his knock that the defending champions managed to go past the 200-run mark.
In the last 15 balls, the Titans scored 51 runs, the finishing kick their innings needed. Sai Sudharsan also impressed to a large extent, having scored 53 runs off 38 balls with three fours and two sixes. He also stitched together a handy partnership of 67 runs with Shubman Gill, who made 39 off 31 with five fours.
The Knights did not get off to the best of starts as Rahmanullah Gurbaz and N Jagadeesan went back to the pavilion without disturbing the scorers much. Joshua Little and Mohammed Shami gave GT the early breakthroughs.
Venkatesh Iyer, however, did not throw in the towel and kept playing his shots without much fear. He went on to score 83 runs off 40 balls with eight fours and five sixes. But Joseph dismissed him against the run of play to put a big dent in KKR’s hopes.
After Iyer got out, Rashid Khan added insult to KKR’s injury by becoming the first bowler in IPL 2023 to pick up a hat-trick. Rashid got the wickets of Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Shardul Thakur to show the reason why he is deemed as one of the best in the business.
With 29 runs to win off the last over, KKR seemed down and out. But then Rinku Singh took Yash Dayal to the cleaners by hitting the pacer for five sixes in a row. On the back of Rinku’s knock, KKR snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Rinku stayed not out on 48 off 21 with one four and six sixes.
