Here is why Quinton de Kock Isn’t Playing Today’s IPL 2025 Match 39 Against GT

The 39th match of IPL 2025 features the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) facing off against the Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Winning an important toss, Kolkata Knight Riders’ captain Ajinkya Rahane has elected to bowl first. He said that the ground generally favours the chasing side.

Rahane mentioned that they would like to get an idea of how the pitch is playing while bowling. He said that his team is determined to move ahead on the points table. However, the big news ahead of the match is the absence of Quinton de Kock and Anrich Nortje from the KKR playing XI. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Moeen Ali come in as replacements.

Kolkata Knight Riders Opt to Bowl First in Kolkata

Ajinkya Rahane, leading the Kolkata Knight Riders, said that his team would like to get an idea of how the pitch is playing by bowling first. He noted that Eden Gardens is generally a chasing ground. Furthermore, he talked about how the KKR side is determined to move ahead on the points table. They currently languish in the 7th position.

“Slightly on the drier side, when we bowl, we’ll get an idea how it’s playing. This is generally a chasing ground. We spoke after the last game. All the players are working really hard. We’ve made some errors but it’s all about being positive. We are at number 7 now, the motivation for each and everyone is to go up the ladder as a team.

Really positive about all the players. Not too worried about middle-order I feel 5, 6, 7 sometimes is a tricky position to bat but when it works well it really looks well. Couple of changes. Gurbaz comes in and Moeen Ali comes in as well.” Rahane said.

KKR are playing with key bowlers like Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana and Moeen Ali.

Gill wants to post a nice total

Shubhman Gill, captaining the GT side, said that he doesn’t expect any dew in the match. So, batting first won’t be an issue for his team. He exphasised on the need to post a good total for the match to be interesting. Gill complimented his bowling lineup, saying they all look to take wickets, which has helped them controlling the total as well.

“I don’t think there’ll be any dew. If we post a nice total, it should be a good match. Our bowling, everyone has been contributing with wickets. we are looking to pick wickets and the way our bowlers have been controlling the totals has been tremendous. (On Rashid Khan) The skill-set that he brings along with his bowling and the energy that he brings on the field, any captain would love to have him.” Gill said.

Why Quinton de Kock is not playing today

KKR has decided to bench the experienced opener Quinton de Kock and bring in the young Afghanistan batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz. De Kock has had a mediocre season so far. The South African has scored only 143 runs in 7 innings.

His knock of 97* against the Rajasthan Royals early in the season accounts for about two-thirds of his season aggregate. The batter has really struggled after that knock. Thus, KKR has decided to rest de Kock. Gurbaz replaces him.

They have also decided to rest Anrich Nortje, another South African. Nortje is a pace spearhead. However, the KKR management has replaced him with Moeen Ali, a spinning all-rounder.

The hosts might be expecting the pitch to offer some turn and grip to the spinners. Moeen is expected to exploit it. Moreover, Moeen is handy with the bat, giving KKR extra batting cushion.

Playing XIs

Kolkata Knight Riders Playing XI:

Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy

Gujarat Titans XI:

Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Sherfane Rutherford, Rahul Tewatia, Washington Sundar, Shahrukh Khan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj

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