Ajinkya Rahane’s Kolkata Knight Riders will continue to miss the services of Matheesha Pathirana for IPL 2026 match vs Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad as he is yet to join the squad.
Updated: April 17, 2026 11:28 AM IST
GT vs KKR IPL 2026: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan co-owned Kolkata Knight Riders had entered the IPL 2026 mini auction with the biggest budget of Rs 64 crore and a lot was expected from the three-time champions as they looked to reset. But nothing has gone right for KKR since the auction last year with their Rs 25.2 crore punt on Australian all-rounder Cameron Green failing miserably and their Rs 18 crore buy – Sri Lanka pacer Matheesha Pathirana – yet to join the squad.
Ajinkya Rahane’s KKR are yet to win a match in the IPL 2026 season after five ties, their lone point coming from a washed-out match against Punjab Kings. KKR are getting ready to face Gujarat Titans in match No. 25 of the IPL 2026 season at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday.
The visitors will continue to miss the services of Pathirana, since he has failed to join the KKR squad yet due to logistical reasons in spite of getting the NOC from Sri Lanka Cricket. The pressure is also mounting on Cameron Green, who has failed to fire in the season so far with both bat and ball.
Rahane may need to take a tough call on the KKR opener as well with New Zealand star Finn Allen struggling to notch up a big score. Allen could be replaced by his countrymate Tim Seifert, who is yet to make an appearance so far this season.
“We feel bad that we have not won matches but I am only thinking about what I can do going ahead,” KKR pacer Kartik Tyagi said in the pre-match press conference in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
“To some extent, I would say it comes down to luck. There were few games where luck did not favour us. Looking at the way our last match went… we also have to show better intent going ahead. The whole team is feeling bad that we have still not won a match this time but we are trying our best,” Tyagi added.
With Pathirana missing from the attack, KKR will continue to keep their faith in their spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy while Shubman Gill’s GT bank on their pace attack featuring Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada and Ashok Sharma.
GT are unlikely to make any changes to their playing 11 after back-to-back wins to get their IPL 2026 campaign back on track.
Our effort never lacks, let’s do this KKR pic.twitter.com/rZxFCbXOpK
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 17, 2026
Gujarat Titans vs Kolkata Knight Riders IPL 2026 match no 25 Predicted 12
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), B Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tewatia, M Shahrukh Khan, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ashok Sharma, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj
Kolkata Knight Riders: Finn Allen/Tim Seifert, Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Rovman Powell, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakravarthy
