Gujarat Titans continued to prove why they are among the outright favourites to clinch the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 title. The Shubman Gill-led side beat defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to secure their 6th victory in 8 matches. Gill, who played an influential role with the bat in GT’s triumph at the Eden Gardens on Monday, was also quite animated in the field as a skipper. It looked like emotions had gotten the better of Gujarat captain after R Sai Kishore dismissed KKR’s Venkatesh Iyer.
Gill and Venkatesh have a bit of a history since the former was let go by the franchise after the IPL 2022 season, in favour of the latter. Fast forward to today, Gill has proven himself to be an absolute asset both for his franchise in IPL and to the Indian team on the international stage. Iyer, on the other hand, is still trying to find his feet despite being among the top-paying players in the league this season.
“We were ahead in the game, but it’s one thing to be ahead and another to close the game. Good teams when they are chasing or defending, close the game very well. So that was just some of my emotions coming out,” Gill said when asked about the aggressive celebration after Iyer’s dismissal.
Gujarat eventually went on to win the contest by 39 runs at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, condemning the hosts to their fifth loss in their title defence. Gill and his opening partner Sai Sudharsan, laid the foundation of the triumph by putting 114 runs on the board for the first wicket.
After the game, Gill gave insights into his and Sudharsan’s approach at the top. “Very pleased. the talk for us earlier was that these two matches were going to decide where we stand on the table, so very happy with how they went. There is no such conversation (with Sai Sudharsan, that one of us has to stay till the end), we want to play our best game, score as much runs, we never say that one of us has to stay in the end. We just want to bat deep.”
“We were ahead in the game, but it’s important to close the game. Good teams close the game very well. In this format it is very difficult to have a perfect game, like even today, maybe 10 more runs if I had stayed there. But still, you have to find a way to win the game, and that is what we are really good at,” he added.
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