Following a mixed auction, can the Titans make a striking first impression?

Squad Depth

Possible Starting XI

What works for Gujarat Titans

• The Titans are spoilt for choices on the opening front. To compliment the designated anchor that is Shubman Gill, at their disposal is two of the best powerplay bashers in the entire world, Matthew Wade and Rahmanullah Gurbaz — both have struck at over 145 in overs 1-6 in the last two years, and are particularly lethal versus pace. Then there is Wriddhiman Saha, who’s had multiple successful stints as an opener in the IPL.

• Their middle-order is packed with six-hitters. In Pandya and David Miller they have two proven match-winners that compliment each other, but the real point of difference could be Abhinav Manohar. The Karnataka batter is an intent machine who is an outrageously good spin basher. In his short T20 career, Manohar has struck at a whopping 219.05 against spinners, striking at over 170 versus both the ball turning in and away. 

• Being blessed with all-rounders (batting and bowling) gives Gujarat the luxury of batting deep while simultaneously having a truckload of bowling options. Granted skipper Pandya bowls, GT will have as many as seven bowling options in their full-strength XI. At the same time, they will bat till No.8 (Rashid Khan). Even Sai Kishore has a List A and FC fifty to his name. This depth on both the batting and bowling fronts will not only eliminate any concerns about balance, but will come in handy for the side during the course of the tournament.  

• On the bowling front, the Titans are covered on all fronts; they boast one of the best attacks in the league. They have a world-class x-factor seamer (Lockie) and a world-class x-factor spinner (Rashid) both of whom can be trusted in all phases. They have a senior Indian pacer who can run through teams on his day (Shami) and a young spinner who for two years has been the best finger-spinner in the domestic circuit (Sai Kishore).

• Additionally, they have two seam-bowling all-rounders that provide completely different packages (Pandya and a Shankar) and a very adept, better-than-part-time wrist-spinning option in Tewatia. 

• The strength in depth in the bowling department stands out too. For instance, GT can turn to someone like an Alzarri Joseph to bolster the pace attack on fast wickets, while they can call upon the experience of Jayant Yadav on slow and low wickets. Needless to say, the off-spin of Jayant can also be deployed in select games to counter LHB dominated sides. They also have a secret weapon in Noor Ahmad, an unknown entity that could potentially bamboozle sides with his left-arm wrist (read: mystery) spin. 

Where Gujarat might struggle?

• There is a serious paucity of proven run-accumulators on the batting front. With there being no Indian or overseas run-machine in the middle-order (both starting XI and bench), there is set to be an over-dependence on Gill to make consistent runs. Notably, Gill himself is yet to stamp his authority in the IPL.

• Should Vijay Shankar bat at No.3, the team might carry the risk of getting bogged down in the middle-overs whenever he bats together with Gill. In IPL, Gill and Shankar strike at 123 and 113.5 respectively in overs 7-15, both having a balls-per-boundary figure of over 8.5. While Gill gets tied down by pace in this phase (SR 111.92), Shankar struggles to put away spin (SR 104.95).

• It won’t be any better for GT if Shankar finds himself batting alongside Wade. The southpaw, in his T20 career, has struck at 114 vs spin in overs 7-15. Opposition teams will strangle the Titans with spin should this pair bat together. But the management can do little about this; all said and done, unless they decide to gamble on the inexperienced Sai Sudharsan, Shankar seems like the best bet for the No.3 position.

• On paper Gujarat’s batting might look dangerous, but it has plenty of players unproven at the IPL level — none of Wade, Gurbaz and Manohar can be backed, eyes closed, to have a stellar season, for the simple reason that they’ve never previously played, or had success, in the IPL. Even in the case of Miller, you’ll have to go all the way back to 2015 to find the last instance of him having a ‘good’ IPL season. 

• Due to the above-mentioned reason, there’ll be even more pressure on Pandya to deliver. And this is less than ideal, given Pandya himself struggled with the bat last year (averaged 19.47 in all T20s in 2021) and is returning after a long lay-off. 

• Pandya’s fitness, in general, is a concern too. The word going around is that he’ll be bowling regularly this season, but what if he breaks down, say, after a handful of games? That will significantly wreck the balance of the side and force the management to play an additional local seamer in place of one of the Indian spinners. 

• On most days GT will get 5 overs of Ferguson/Rashid/Shami (2+1+2) at the death, but there is a good chance, in certain games, they’ll have to throw the ball to either Pandya or Shankar owing to unforeseen circumstances. In that case, they’ll be clutching at straws. Having someone like an Alzarri Joseph will solve this problem, but for that the Titans will have to sacrifice one of their two overseas batters — a luxury they cannot afford due to the non-existent Indian batting depth.