Coming into their ninth game of the season, Shreyas Iyer and his men, the IPL 2025 runners-up, were looking to get back their winning streak after suffering their first defeat of the season to Rajasthan Royals in their last home ground at the PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh.
Shreyas Iyer’s team has been batting brilliantly, but they have struggled with the ball as they have failed to establish a hold despite having huge targets on the board. Shreyas Iyer himself has also accepted the same thing.
In contrast, Gujarat Titans have won matches on the basis of excellent performance by their bowlers. Kagiso Rabada is the leading wicket-taker for them this season with 16 wickets in 10 matches.
Mohammed Siraj has been amazing, while the addition of Jason Holder has added a lot of quality to their deck. The Titans’ batting department still relies heavily on their top three, although Jason Holder can be relied upon to contribute in the death overs.
GT Pacers’ dominance, Sheng-Stoinis’ brief partnerships fail to take PBKS to promising score
The Gujarat Titans bowlers have performed brilliantly against some of the strongest batting units in this edition of the IPL. They have taken advantage of the conditions and matchups against the teams, especially on their home ground at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Mohammed Siraj struck early in the power play as he dismissed Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly on consecutive balls and brought Shreyas Iyer to the crease very early. Shreyas has been strong against the spinners, while he has struggled a bit against the fast bowlers with the new ball.
Kagiso Rabada struck against the second PBKS opener while Jason Holder broke the back of their middle order by taking two wickets in his two overs after the powerplay. Half of the PBKS team was back in the dugout with less than 50 runs on the board.
However, Suryansh Sehde and Marcus Stoinis played well in the middle overs, giving the innings some momentum with 70+ partnerships at that stage. They did a really good job getting him back in the game.
However, Rabada bounced back with great success against Shez. Jason Holder’s double strike against Marcus Stoinis and Xavier Bartlett in the death overs restricted the Kings to just 163, with Marco Jensen testing the batsman for the first time this season.
Sai Sudarshan’s half-century and Washington Sundar’s brilliant performance helped GT register a crucial win against PBKS
GT batsmen Sai Sudarshan and Shubman Gill, who have shown great form in the season, were set to chase just 164 runs against one of the most uneconomical bowling lineups in this season of the competition.
Arshdeep Singh was not handed the new ball in the first over; However, he dismissed the GT captain in the second over of the game. Shubman Gill lofted up a run and Cooper Connolly completed the catch safely. With great success, he saw a slight rise in the game.
Jos Buttler and Sai Sudarshan maintained their composure and bowled him out of the powerplay; However, Vishak removed Buttler after the powerplay, and the seamers managed to restrict the run flow to some extent.
Sudarshan remained patient and along with Washington Sundar took his innings forward with a very important win against Shreyas Iyer’s team. The Titans saw it through in a highly contested match when Sundar hit Stoinis for a six on the final ball of the final over of the game.
I personally think it was a great score- Shreyas Iyer
“I personally feel it was a great score on a wicket where the ball was doing a bit of good initially, especially the new ball. Their bowlers made the best use of the surface – the way they were bowling lengths and on the deck.”
PBKS’s batsmen get support from skipper Shreyas Iyer, “It was right on the stumps and not giving us much options to open our arms and score runs. I believe we lost four wickets in the powerplay. To get to 160 from there was a phenomenal effort.”
Shreyas Iyer further added, “With the new ball we would have been able to hit our line and length and get early wickets. But that did not happen. But the way we fought till the end is praise for the efforts. The attitude and approach was excellent. We just missed hitting the tough lengths.”
Shreyas Iyer showed some promising mindset despite the defeat: “We are still on top of the table, which is what matters. We will take positive things from this game. Moving forward in the IPL (playing on such pitches) is a big challenge because it also improves the attitude of the bowlers. It can boost their confidence, especially after scoring 50-60 runs in the last game and then coming here and bowling great overs. We wanted to win, but it didn’t happen. Click.”
Also Read: “My job just got easier”: Jason Holder in awe of Siraj-Rabada combo after consistent POTM performances in IPL 2026
