On Sunday, April 9, the Gujarat Titans (GT) will welcome the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to their home field of Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad for the 13th match of the ongoing edition of the IPL 2023. Both teams have yet to play each other this season, thus this will be the first of two meetings. Gujarat Titans and Kolkata Knight Riders have only played each other once in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL), but Titans won that match and now hold the upper hand in the series.
The Gujarat Titans have won both of their games so far in IPL 2023, just like they did at the end of their first season. They started their defense of the title at home with a close win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK). They beat Delhi Capitals (DC) in their second league game, which was in Delhi. With David Miller on the team, the batting order is now stronger, and the team looks better than ever. GT will start as the favorite to win their second home game of the season and make it three wins in a row.
After losing the first game by DLS, the Knights from Kolkata beat their longtime rivals, the Royal Challengers Bangalore, in a big way at home (RCB). This win will definitely give the Knight Riders, who are having trouble with injuries and missing players, a boost of confidence. Shardul Thakur did a great job. Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy bowled a great spell together. Suyash Sharma gave the Knights a new hero who was good with the ball. To beat the Titans in an afternoon game, they will need to work on their top-order batting.
IPL 2023: Game between GT and KKR Has a Top Player Battle to Watch:
3) Hardik Pandya vs Varun Chakaravarthy
Against KKR, Hardik Pandya has scored 366 runs, with an average of 61 and a strike rate of 173.46. This includes his best score in the IPL, which was 91. Varun Chakravarthy is one of the few KKR bowlers who has kept Hardik Pandya quiet in the IPL (21 runs off 21 balls) but hasn’t gotten rid of him. Chakaravarthy will try to beat Pandya because he has had a good start to the season.
2) Shubman Gill vs Sunil Narine
This battle will be the most interesting of all of them. Sunil Narine is an experienced spin master, but Shubman Gill is young and knows a lot. Shubman Gill won the first game of the IPL 2023 with a big hit, but in the next game he was out quickly. Narine didn’t get off to a good start against Punjab Kings (PBKS), but against RCB, where he took two wickets, including one of Virat Kohli, he was at his best. After getting rid of RCB’s first batsman, Narine will try to get rid of Gill.
1) Andre Russell vs Rashid Khan
In match 13 of the IPL 2023, Andre Russell and Rashid Khan, two of the best T20 match-winners, will play against each other. Rashid Khan has caused a lot of trouble in the current cash-rich league. He has played in two games and taken five wickets at a cost of 7.12 runs per wicket. Russell still hasn’t arrived at the party. He was out of the game after the first ball. KKR would hope that Russell would find his “mojo” in this game and help his team win. Hardik can save his best card, Rashid Khan, for the Jamaican because he knows that Russell is a threat. When these two modern greats went up against each other, Rashid always came out on top. Russell has been out three times by the spin wizard in T20 cricket. Russell’s average against Rashid is only 11, and his strike rate against Rashid is only 110.
