Opening batter Finn Allen is not taking part in the ongoing Match No. 25 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 between the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the Gujarat Titans (GT), as both sides are engaging in a fierce battle of bat and ball at the gigantic venue of the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
GT vs KKR: Toss Update
At the toss, the visiting skipper called it correctly, and with the coin flip going in his favour, he confirmed that KKR will be batting first at the venue. Surprisingly, Shubman Gill, Rahane’s counterpart, was happy to be bowling first since he anyway wanted his side to chase the target had they won the toss in the ongoing fixture.
GT vs KKR: Visitors drop Finn Allen as opener; hosts unchanged
Gujarat Titans did not make any change to their playing combination from the previous clash, where they won quite comfortably. But the most shocking and the only exclusion was for KKR, who dropped their opening batter-cum-wicketkeeper Finn Allen. Dropped from the side, Allen was replaced by his fellow New Zealand international Tim Seifert.
GT vs KKR: What did the captains say?
Ajinkya Rahane, KKR captain,
We’d look to bat first. We just want our batters to play freely, with freedom. The kind of tournament we’ve had so far, we’ve tried everything, chasing targets and batting first as well. I thought giving that freedom to the batters and then defending the total would be a good approach. That batting first is a good option is what I got to know. But again, sometimes you don’t have to depend too much on data and stats. It’s all about what you feel as a team and what you strongly want to do. As I said, the kind of tournament we’ve had so far, we just want to turn it around.
I thought batting first was a good option. It’s all about, if you’re doing well, people will say good things about you. If you’re not, then they will criticise you. It’s part and parcel of any sportsperson’s life. It’s about staying confident as a team and backing each other in tough times; that’s what matters. We always talk about character in the team, and I think we have really good characters. We just want to focus on our strengths and play good cricket. T20 is all about momentum, winning small moments. Today, we just want to play fearless cricket and stay in the moment. Just one change. Tim Seifert comes in place of Finn Allen.
Shubman Gill, GT captain,
Honestly, we would have bowled first. I always feel the weather is getting a bit hotter, so there might be some dew around. We haven’t seen it in the past 3-4 matches that we’ve played, but as we get deeper into the tournament, with the weather getting hotter, there might be some dew. Even in the last match, I think our batting collapsed in the middle, we lost five wickets from overs 11 to 15. Otherwise, it should have been a pretty comfortable chase against Rajasthan Royals.
It’s about doing the simple things consistently as a group. It’s about doing the small things as well as you can. That’s something we always talk about in team meetings, keep the simple things simple. Don’t complicate it too much because it’s such a technical game. The more you complicate it, the more difficult it becomes. We got the same team.
GT vs KKR: Playing XIs
Gujarat Titans
Shubman Gill (capt), B Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ashok Sharma, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj
Impact Substitutes: Jason Holder, Shahrukh Khan, Manav Suthar, Kulwant Khejroliya and Anuj Rawat
Kolkata Knight Riders
Tim Seifert, Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi
Varun, Manish Pandey, Finn Allen, Tejasvi Dahiya and Navdeep Saini
