The current white-ball captain of England, Jos Buttler, is among the finest T20 batters. Jos Buttler is an adaptive batter who can be an aggressor as well as an anchor to win matches for his side. And Jos Buttler displayed his talent in the IPL while playing for Rajasthan Royals (RR). He has shown his hunger for scoring big runs by hitting seven hundreds for the Royals, that too at good strike rates.
Jos Buttler was sold to Gujarat Titans (GT) for 15.75 crore in the IPL 2025 auction. The bidding began with Rajasthan Royals (RR), his previous team, but GT quickly entered the race, competing fiercely with RR. As the price surged past 10 crore, PBKS and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) also showed interest. After intense bidding, GT secured Buttler for 15.75 crore. The wicketkeeper-batter has accumulated over 3500 runs and will look to add more in the upcoming season and more against his former franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR)
Gujarat Titans lock horns with Rajasthan Royals in Match 23 of the ongoing IPL 2025 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, on Wednesday, April 9
GT vs RR : Previous Performances
Gujarat will look to climb to the top of the points table with a win in front of their home fans. After suffering a narrow 11-run defeat to Punjab Kings in their opening fixture, GT have won three games in a row against Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and Sunrisers Hyderabad. In their most recent fixture against the Orange Army, Mohammed Siraj starred with a four-for before captain Shubman Gill’s unbeaten half-century helped the 2022 champions topple a 153-run target with seven wickets and 20 balls to spare
After a close defeat in their tournament opener against Punjab Kings, the Gujarat Titans have been on a roll, winning three games on the bounce. With a top-heavy batting order that has an overdose of finishers, GT’s stronger suite certainly seems to be their varied bowling attack.
Which is why their defeat against PBKS, albeit on an absolute belter in Ahmedabad, came as an aberration. Even without Rashid Khan’s sizeable contributions, the Titans’ attack has been firing on all cylinders. Rashid’s spin twin, Sai Kishore has taken up the mantle of the destructor in the middle overs.
However, it is GT’s pace attack that has caused the most damage with Mohammed Siraj being the standout of the lot. Head coach Ashish Nehra’s fetish for pacers and hit-the-deck bowling is well documented, and GT have followed that formula with success. After the opening game where PBKS smashed 240-plus, opponents haven’t breached the 175-run mark against the Titans in the three games thereafter. As for the batting department, skipper Shubman Gill is yet to go full throttle but his fifty against SRH has come as a timely reminder of his class.
It’s fellow opener Sai Sudarshan who has been GT’s main man in the batting along with England’s talisman Jos Buttler. The top-three has done bulk of the scoring and it means that the middle order is yet to be fully tested. It is perhaps the only area of concern for the side at the moment but they wouldn’t be worrying too much on this for now.
In contrast, Rajasthan Royals have endured a mixed bag till date, as their two wins and as many losses from four games suggest. They also got a severe thrashing in their opening game with SRH smashing a whopping 286 in Hyderabad but RR’s bowlers have improved since then.
Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, started their campaign with two consecutive defeats to Sunrisers and Kolkata Knight Riders. However, they have bounced back strongly to register wins against Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings. The Sanju Samson-led side is coming into this clash after beating Punjab by 50 runs in Mullanpur. The inaugural champions would want to extend the winning streak further and continue their climb up the table.
The form of Jofra Archer is arguably the best news for the RR camp as the English pacer has come out all guns blazing with the new ball. His pace is back, so is his movement and importantly, the accuracy. The defeat to SRH was followed by another loss to KKR, but the Royals then went on to down the Super Kings and Punjab Kings with conviction. Apart from Archer, the Sri Lankan spin duo of Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga have also worked wonders for the side.
The positive aspect for RR in the batting has been the fact they haven’t relied on one or two batters to do the job. Nitish Rana, Yashasvi Jaiswal and skipper Sanju Samson have all done their bit, while Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer have also been in good touch. The results may point at RR being a wobbly side but they certainly do have a lot more firepower than the points table suggests at this point. Like the Titans, the Royals also have most bases covered and it makes for a pulsating clash.
GT vs RR : Head to Head
The stats are heavily in favour of GT who hold a one-sided 5-1 record against RR.
| Matches Played | 06 |
| Won by Gujarat Titans | 01 |
| Won by Rajasthan Royals | 05 |
| Tied | 00 |
| No Result | 00 |
| First-ever Fixture | April 14, 2022 |
| Most-recent Fixture | April 10, 2024 |
GT vs RR : Pitch and Weather Report
After the opening game where a red-soil surface became the bowlers’ nightmare, a black-soil deck was dished out with success against Mumbai Indians, apparently at the team management’s request. Given how things went in that game, a similar strip could be in the offing. Runs could still be on offer but the slow nature means bowlers with smart pace variations could thrive.
The Narendra Modi Stadium generally provides good batting surfaces. The first two matches played at this venue in IPL 2025 have been high-scoring affairs. Both matches have been won by teams batting first. In the first game, Punjab amassed 243/5, and Gujarat fell short by 11 runs. A total of 38 games have been played at this venue. The average first-innings score is 174. Teams batting first have won 17 games, while chasing teams have emerged victorious on 20 occasions.
Ahmedabad offers a choice of surfaces – black soil, which makes the pitch slower and lower, and red soil, which offers pace and bounce. All that considered though, batters have scored runs at a rate of 9.76 per over, which puts this ground behind only Hyderabad (10.16) in terms of high-scoring venues this IPL.
GT vs RR : Big Picture : Momentum with Titans as red-hot Jos Buttler squares up against familiar faces
These two teams have very similar make-ups. But their trajectories in IPL 2025 have diverged because the same strength they have invested in has worked for one but not the other.
Gujarat Titans are up in second place on the points table because their top three have been enormously productive. Shubman Gill, Sai Sudarshan and Jos Buttler have been responsible for over 70% of their team’s runs – 503 out of 715. Plan A is going really well for them. Too well, maybe T20 cricket is messy. And eventually, Titans will have to deal with the fact that their middle order has got no time in the middle.
Rajasthan Royals have gone through that arc already this season. Yashasvi Jaiswal’s indifferent form and Sanju Samson’s return from injury has exposed their middle order and those back-up players were able to fashion an excellent win over Chennai Super Kings in Guwahati last week. Nitish Rana and company appear slightly more battle-ready than Shahrukh Khan and company.
Jos Buttler, now with Titans, will be coming up against his former team. Jos Buttler has played seven seasons for Royals, scoring over 3000 runs. Royals captain Sanju Samson had even said before the season that letting Jos Buttler go ahead of the auction was “one of the most challenging decisions” for him.
GT vs RR : In the spotlight : Sherfane Rutherford and Jofra Archer
GT vs RR : Vital Stats that matters
- Jos Buttler has a favourable head-to-head against Archer in T20s: 89 runs in 47 balls for two dismissals.
- Mohammed Siraj has found his rhythm again. He had only five wickets in the powerplay last season. He’s already gone past that mark now, having played 10 fewer matches. His pace is up – 50% his balls in the first six overs are 140-plus kph. All that sets him up even better for his contest with Samson, which in the IPL, reads 36 runs in 31 balls and three dismissals.
- A battle with the Royals might be coming at the perfect time for Rashid. He looked in decent nick against Sunrisers (4-0-31-0) and has the wood over Riyan Parag (24 runs, 28 balls, two dismissals) in the IPL and Shimron Hetmyer (79 runs, 63 balls, six dismissals) in all T20 cricket.
- Titans’ top order doing as well as they have has meant a set batter is always around to take advantage of the death overs. Their run-rate of 13.31 is the second-best among all teams in this phase of play this season.
- Royals’ spinners have picked up 11 wickets this year, behind only Chennai Super Kings. Maheesh Theekshana has even coped with the burden of bowling in the death, picking up a wicket and giving just 18 runs in 18 balls. Wanindu Hasaranga has only been used in the middle overs and he’s been effective enough that only two other bowlers have more wickets than he does – R Sai Kishore (8) and Noor Ahmad (8).
- Each of GT’s top three – Gill, Sudarshan and Buttler – average 50 and have a strike-rate above 150 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
- R Sai Kishore has out bowled his fellow spinner Rashid Khan in all four games so far for GT. The former has eight wickets so far this campaign while Rashid has just the lone scalp.
GT vs RR : Team News for GT and RR
Gujarat Titans
Injuries/Unavailability: No injuries have been reported from the Titans camp. There is no clarity yet around Kagiso Rabada, who left Titans to return home for personal reasons. In his continued absence, Ishant Sharma might get more games as the Impact Sub.
Tactics & Matchups: Jos Buttler has scored 166 runs so far in the competition and has a terrific record against his English counterpart Jofra Archer in the IPL. The former English skipper has scored 89 runs off 47 balls off him, striking at 189.36 and has been dismissed only twice.
Gujarat Titans (GT) Probable Playing XI : Shubman Gill (C), Sai Sudarshan, Jos Buttler (WK), Washington Sundar, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Ravi Srinivasan Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Ishant Sharma.
Impact Player: Sherfane Rutherford
Rajasthan Royals
Injuries/Unavailability: No injuries have been reported from the Royals camp. Royals seemed to have hit their stride in the last game with Samson back as captain and Jaiswal producing runs as opener. They do not have a pressing reason to change their combination.
Tactics & Matchups: Jofra Archer has been excellent in the first over in the history of the IPL. Having bowled the first over on 13 occasions, he has picked up 8 wickets at an economy of 3.54, with an average of 5.75. Up against an in-form top three of GT, it will be an interesting matchup to keep an eye out for.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) Probable Playing XI : Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (C/WK), Riyan Parag, Nitish Rana, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Yudhvir Singh, Sandeep Sharma.
Impact Player: Kumar Kartikeya
GT vs RR Fantasy Playing XI : Jos Buttler (C), Sai Sudarshan, Rashid Khan, R Sai Kishore, Sanju Samson, Jofra Archer (vc), Dhruv Jurel, Mohammed Siraj, Sandeep Sharma, Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar
GT vs RR : Probable Best Performers
Probable Best Batter: Sai Sudarshan
Flamboyant batter Sai Sudarshan has scored runs consistently in IPL 2025, except in the last game against Hyderabad. He is at No. 3 on the list of leading run-getters this season. In four innings, he has scored 191 runs at an average of 47.75 and a strike rate of 150.39. He will look to get back among the runs on Wednesday.
Probable Best Bowler: Mohammed Siraj
Pacer Mohammed Siraj conceded 54 runs from four overs in his first match in GT colours and went wicketless. However, he came back strongly in the following game against Mumbai Indians, dismissing openers Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton. The right-arm seamer has not looked back since. He bagged three wickets against Bengaluru and four against Hyderabad, winning Player of the Match awards in both games. Shubman would hope for some early wickets from his talismanic seamer with the new ball.
GT vs RR : Match Predictions
Scenario 1
- Gujarat Titans win the toss and bowl
- PP Score – 60-70
- RR- 200-210
- Gujarat Titans win the match
Scenario 2
- Rajasthan Royals win the toss and bowl
- PP score – 55-65
- GT- 200-210
- Gujarat Titans win the match
Also Read: GT vs RR: “It Adds Complexity”- Rahul Dravid Not In Favor Of Impact Player Rule