IPL 2025: CSK hand Gujarat Titans a hard pill to swallow; Klassen's ton helps SRH beat KKR

Anastasiia Dudkina
26 May 2025
16:26

As the Gujarat Titans lost their last league match to bottom-placed Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, their skipper, Shubman Gill, also the newly-appointed India Test captain, was left stunned. 

CSK players celebrate their stunning victory over the Gujarat Titans. @ BCCI
CSK players celebrate their stunning victory over the Gujarat Titans. @ BCCI

Gujarat Titans had ruled the league, winning nine of their first 12 matches. They have since lost their last two matches, but it was Sunday's 83-run thrashing at the hands of Chennai Super Kings that had sent them reeling and put them in a position from which they could finish out of the first two spots. 

Gill blamed their performance in the mandatory power-plays in both innings for their defeat.

Gill said after the match.
The game pretty much went away from us in the power-play. We never really came back in the game; 230 is a big target. Teams that are already eliminated don't have anything to lose. We were not able to stay calm under pressure. It's very important to control runs in the middle overs. If you don't pick wickets, it's always going to be difficult and challenging.

Indeed, that's what happened. After CSK skipper MS Dhoni elected to bat first, GT failed to contain their young batters. Opener Ayush Mhatre blasted 34 runs in 17 balls, and Devon Conway (52) and Uvril Patil (37) rode the momentum to help CSK score 68/1 in the first six overs of the power-play. Dewald Brevis then blazed to 23-ball 57, his second half-century of IPL 2025, as CSK posted a massive 230/5 in 20 overs.

When it came to chasing the stiff target, Gujarat Titans never got into the groove as they lost three wickets for 35 runs in the first six overs, which really sealed their fate.

Of their top-order, which has propelled them to the top of the table, only B. Sai Sudharsan (41) put up some fight but Shubman Gill (13), Jos Buttler (5), and Sherfane Rutherford (0) perished cheaply, and from that they did not recover, eventually getting bundled out for 147 in 18.3 overs and losing the match by 83 runs.

The CSK bowlers exploited the conditions well, especially spinner Noor Ahmad and medium pacer Anshul Kamboj claimed three wickets apiece for 13 and 21 runs respectively while seasoned left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja bagged 2-17 as CSK put GT under the kosh from the start and did not allow them to recover.

Gill said the defeat was a hard pill to swallow for his team
This one would be a hard pill to swallow for us. But on the bright side, we have two or three important games for us.

The loss means, Gujarat Titans finished IPL 2025 with 18 points from 14 matches, opening up an opportunity for Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru to overtake them by winning their last league matches. Both PBKS and RCB are on 17 points each, and PBKS will play Mumbai Indians on Monday, while RCB will take on LSG in the last league match of the season on Tuesday. 

If both PBKS and RCB win, they will finish with 19 points each, thus relegating GT to third position. They can slip to the second spot if both PBKS and RCB lose their matches, and MI can move to the top spot if they overcome GT on net run rate.

Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings 230/5 in 20 overs (Dewald Brevis 57, Devon Conway 52; Prasidh Krishna 2-22, Rashid Khan 1-42) beat Gujarat Titans 147 all out in 18.3 overs (Sai Sudharsan 41, Arshad Khan 20; Anshul Kamboj 3-13, Noor Ahmad 3-21, Ravindra Jadeja 2-17) by 83 runs.

Heinrich Klassen celebrates his century against Kolkata Knight Riders in New Delhi. @ BCCI
Heinrich Klassen celebrates his century against Kolkata Knight Riders in New Delhi. @ BCCI

Klaasen helps SRH hammer KKR

The second match of the day between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders was also quite intriguing, even though both of them were out of playoff contention.

Sunrisers Hyderabad rode on Heinrich Klaasen's smashing unbeaten 105 off just 39 balls, and 76 off 40 balls helped Sunrisers Hyderabad post a massive total of 278/3 in 20 overs on the board.

Klassen's amazing innings included seven fours and nine sixes and came at a strike rate of 269.23. Klaasen made his promotion to number three count by unleashing his prowess in consistently playing shots straight down the ground while punishing anything short by pulling with immaculate ease.

While hitting his second IPL hundred, Klaasen received strong support from Travis Head, who hit a brilliant 76 off 40 balls — his third IPL 2025 fifty, including six fours and six sixes. Cameos from Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, and Aniket Verma further boosted SRH as they scored 74 runs in the last five overs. 

KKR had to get into attack mode from the start itself as they chased the massive target of 279, but three-fers from Eshan Malinga and Harsh Dubey, along with Jaydev Undakat’s early strikes, bowled them out for 168 in 18.4 overs. While SRH jumped to sixth place in the points table, KKR ended their campaign with their biggest-ever defeat in the IPL.

KKR were saved from suffering one of their worst defeats ever in Indian Premier League thanks to powerful innings by Manish Pandey and Nitish Rana. While Rana hit three sixes in his first seven balls, Pandey brought out some clean-hitting strokes before falling to Unadkat, while Malinga took Rana’s catch on the second attempt to ensure SRH ended the season on a powerful note.

Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 278/3 in 20 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 105, Travis Head 76; Sunil Narine 2-42, Vaibhav Arora 1-39) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 168 all out in 18.4 overs (Manish Pandey 37, Sunil Narine 31; Eshan Malinga 3-31, Harsh Dubey 3-34) by 110 runs.

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