The Indian Premier League continues on Tuesday when the two sides yet to get their IPL 2025 campaign underway do so when the former champions Gujarat Titans go up against the Punjab Kings in Ahmedabad.
These two teams both finished in the bottom three of the table last season so they head into this campaign knowing that a massive improvement is required and it will be interesting to see who is best placed to deliver on that.
Gujarat Titans
The Gujarat Titans made a massive impression on their entry into the competition, winning the title in their debut campaign and then reaching the final in the title defence the following season but things certainly didn’t go to plan last term and they will be looking to bounce back from that. The big difference between the first two seasons and the most recent one was Hardik Pandya, the original captain, left to join the Mumbai Indians and they couldn’t balance the side as a result.
That will be an issue for the Titans this time around too, as will the fact that they will have to do without their leading wicket taker from last season too as Mohit Sharma has departed for the Delhi Capitals. The Titans do still have Rashid Khan though and the additions of Jos Buttler, Glenn Phillips and Kagiso Rabada should make a big difference. If there is a question mark over Gujarat then it would probably come in the form of batting depth but if their big names fire that shouldn’t be a problem.
Punjab Kings
The Punjab Kings, or Kings XI Punjab as they once were, have been involved in 17 IPL campaigns and the fact that they have only made the finals on two occasions tells us that they really struggle to crack the code when it comes to this tournament. They haven’t finished in the top half of a table since they made the final back in 2014 so they will be hoping that the hire as head coach of Ricky Ponting will make a difference and guide them back to where they want to be.
The Kings have made a number of additions to their squad for this season with Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis the most eye catching of them. Those two should ensure that the Kings have enough batting depth but there is a question mark over them in their openers unless they play Josh Inglis but that could leave them light on bowlers with only one other overseas option. Having Yuzvendra Chahal means that they can at least bat with the extra out and out batter and use him as an impact player.
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Key Players
Shubman Gill has a quite ridiculous record on this ground. He averaged 71.93 and strikes at 163.23 so he will be delighted to be opening his season on home soil and Gujarat Titans will be hoping he gets going nicely here too.
Glenn Maxwell is going to be an important player for the Punjab Kings this season because he’ll finish the innings with the bat but if someone is going around the park with the ball he might be able to offer an over or two of off spin, especially here where the wickets can turn.
Betting
This is another match which is quite tough to bet on because we don’t really know how the Punjab Kings are going to balance their side. I would imagine they will be very tough to beat if they are chasing a score in this match but we won’t know whether that is the case until the toss has happened. I’m going to take largely a watching brief on this as these are the last two teams to get their campaign up and running and so I’ll see how they go before looking to expand the betting repertoire from Wednesday when round two of games begin.
There is one bet that I like on Tuesday though and that comes in the form of the runs of the Shubman Gill. I eluded to the fact that he has an incredible record on this ground above but he also has a decent record against the Punjab Kings too. Since he moved to the Gujarat Titans, Gill has scored 96, 9, 67, 89* and 35 and he was run out for nine so the Kings haven’t got him out for less than 35. He has a run line of 27.5 here and with three centuries and an 87 in his last nine innings in all formats Gill is clearly in form. Everything points to the Gujarat captain covering that run line here.
Tips
Back S.Gill – Over 27.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Betway
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