Indian T20 League 2023

GUJ vs KOL, 13th Match

Preview

Gujarat are the defending champions of the Indian T20 League and have carried on their excellent form this season as they have won the inaugural two games. 

While on the other side, the simple-looking Kolkata team with almost no superstars have a squad blended with talent and experienced players. They have worked well together and managed to win the second match in spite of facing a rough patch in the first game. 

Gujarat will depend on two ex-Kolkata batters for providing them with a good start. The young Indian cricket sensation, Gill scored a half-century in the game against Dhoni’s Chennai side. Sai Sudharsan and Vijay Shankar add stability to the middle order while skipper Hardik Pandya and David Miller count as the perfect finishers of the team. The reigning champions on the other side have a lot of depth in their batting side which goes down to Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia who can also add quick runs to the scorecard. 

Alzarri Joseph and Mohammad Shami form the pace attack along with Rashid Khan in the spin department. The only thing that Gujarat is missing at the moment is another spin maestro who can assist Rashid to form a better spin variation.

The Kolkata side although pretty disappointed with the first match’s result, they lost to the Punjab side by DLS method and the full match could have ended in a close call. But their return to the Eden Garden after almost four years, marked their first victory of the season, as the Bangalore side was utterly humiliated by the Kolkata spinners getting a huge win on Thursday. 

The news concerning the unavailability of Shakib Al-Hasan and Litton Das didn’t affect the side as we saw against Bangalore. The management has selected Jason Roy as the replacement for Shakib after scrutinizing his excellent performance in the Pakistan T20 League. Rahmatulllah Gurbaz has shown his consistency in both games and is a steady choice as an opening batsman.

The middle order for Kolkata is managed by skipper Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh followed by Sunil Narine and Shardul Thakur. We all have seen how he produced a match-winning performance in the last game. Russell has not gotten a good start till now but surely he will try to shift his gears in this game. Also, we cannot forget the impact player of the last game, Suyash Sharma, whose overwhelming impact changed the direction of the game towards Kolkata. He along with Narina and Chakravarthy will once again play a crucial role in piling up wickets for the Kolkata side. 

Match Details

Match: GUJ vs KOL, 13th Match, IND T20 League 2023

Date: Sunday, April 09, 2023

Time: 03:30 PM

Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad

Pitch and Weather Report

The pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad is incredible to bat on and we can expect a high-scoring battle between the sides. The side batting first will be glancing on getting close to 200 runs on the scoreboard to put the opponent under pressure in the second innings of the game. The pitch does have some grass on it which will assist the pace bowlers in the powerplays. 

The climate is expected to remain clear with the highest and lowest temperatures between 30-35 degrees Celsius. 

GUJ vs KOL Squads

GUJ: Hardik Pandya (c), Shubman Gill, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Sai Sudharsan, Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Pradeep Sangwan, Darshan Nalkande, Jayant Yadav, R Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad, Kane Williamson, Odean Smith, KS Bharat, Shivam Mavi, Urvil Patel, Josh Little, Mohit Sharma

KOL: Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, N Jadadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Litton Das, Mandeep Singh, Shakib Al Hasan

GUJ vs KOL Probable Playing XIs

GUJ: Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Shubman Gill, Vijay Shankar, Hardik Pandya, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, KS Bharat, Yash Dayal, Mohammed Shami

KOL: Venkatesh Iyer, Litton Das, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Suyash Sharma, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy 

Match Prediction

While the Knight Riders put up an excellent performance in the last game, we think that they will struggle against the hosts here. The Gujarat Titans have been clinical in their performance in both matches so far and we expect them to continue with their winning run.

We know that defeating a champion side who have won the title last season and hasn’t lost a game till now is difficult but Kolkata are the dark horse in this season of the Indian T20 League. Thus we think the two times champions are going to pull out any strings possible to put up a strong performance against the Hardik Pandya-led side and defeat them to create a strong statement about their existence in this tournament. 

Top Fantasy Picks

Sai Sudharsan is the top run-getter for Gujarat with 84 runs at a strike rate of 129. He has hit 2 sixes and 7 fours. 

Rashid Khan has been the top bowler for the defending champions and has taken 5 wickets while bowling at an economy rate of 7.13 and an average of 11.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz is the best batsman for Kolkata with 79 runs at a strike rate of 131 and has shot  4 sixes and 9 fours. 

Shardul Thakur is an excellent all-rounder who can pick wickets and has also made 76 runs in the last match against Bangalore at a strike rate of 237, taking the team to a high-scoring total. 

Risky Captaincy Choice

Rashid Khan was a valuable asset and helped the Lahore side in defending the Pakistan T20 League title. He picked up 20 wickets in the Pakistan League and has harboured his form in the Indian T20 League too. He has taken 5 wickets in 2 games and has been the best bowler for the side in both games. We are therefore looking forward to him for putting up another stunning performance and getting the highest fantasy points in the game. 

Suggested Playing XI Real11 Fantasy Cricket

Team 1

Team 2