The 28-year-old is also leading his state side in the Ranji Trophy this season
R Sai Kishore is an important player for Gujarat Titans. Even though they had released the spinner into the auction, they made sure he wasn’t gonna go to Punjab Kings during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction in November.
As soon as Punjab Kings bid INR 90 lakh for him, Gujarat Titans activated their Right To Match (RTM) card and matched Punjab Kings’ next bid of INR 2 crore to keep his services for the upcoming season.
The Tamil Nadu spinner became crucial for Gujarat Titans in their debut IPL 2022 season when he became a fixture in their playing XI in the business end of the tournament and impressed with six wickets from five games including 2-20 in the final against Rajasthan Royals. His spells helped Gujarat Titans reach the final and win the title. After a decent IPL 2024 where he got seven wickets from five matches, Sai Kishore is building up form ahead of the IPL 2025 in the domestic circuit.
In the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024-25 quarterfinal against Vidarbha, the left-arm spinner spinner was the lone warrior for Tamil Nadu as he bowled a back-breaking 26 overs in the second innings and claimed 5-78 in the second innings to get an all out for 272.
Sai Kishore, who bowled 20 overs and gave away just 48 in the first innings, got crucial top-order wickets of Danish Malewar and Dhruv Shorey before getting dangerman Harsh Dubey who scored 64.
Also Read:
Despite Sai Kishore’s fightback, Tamil Nadu’s batting was a let down as they folded out for 225 all out in the first innings in reply to Vidarbha’s 353. Yash Rathod’s patient 112 ensured that Vidarbha bowlers had a safe target of 401 runs to defend to book a place in the semifinal.
Vidarbha are likely to make the semifinal for the second season in a row as Tamil Nadu were reduced to 73/5 by the Tea break. Karun Nair, who obliterated records in the Vijay Hazare Trophy recently, looked in fine touch as he topscored with 122 in the first innings. Dubey (69) and Malewar (75) scored fifties to contribute to their big score.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube.
