OPINION
Follow UsCan you relate to that smile of disbelief when things go your way when you least expected it? Hardik Pandya exemplified that expression once Rahul Tewatia found back-to-back sixes to engender an improbable win for Gujarat Titans against Punjab.
Nine days later, he was celebrating another unlikely victory. Similar expressions but with a spring in his step, this time sharing the joy with Shubman Gill rather than sitting by himself. Gujarat had no business winning that game. Chasing 170 against Chennai, they were 48/4 but that's when the Killer Miller decided to show up.
Fast forward to another 10 days and Gujarat have forged another jailbreak in their half a season of existence. On Wednesday night, chasing 196, they had lost half their side to Umran Malik’s whirlwind pace. They were still 57 runs adrift when Malik had sent back Abhinav Manohar for a golden duck. “Surely not tonight,” felt everyone expecting the law of averages to catch up with the Titans.
However, they did it again, finding 25 runs off the last over. They had conceded 25 in their last over with the ball. They gave it back in exactly the same way, four sixes and a single. It was Rashid Khan's turn to hit back-to-back sixes to clinch a victory. Tewatia was at the non-striker’s end this time.
“God is telling us, ‘You guys are good so I will help you out,’” quipped Hardik Pandya in the post-match interview about his team’s erratic success.
Post his heroics against Chennai, David Miller mentioned, “We could've lost 4 out of 6, but instead have won 5 out of 6.” They now have seven wins in eight matches and are sitting top of the table.
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Their campaign has been similar to their matches. No one gave them a chance. Punjab, Mumbai and Lucknow were hot favorites to make it to the playoffs. Gujarat were understood to have suffered a mediocre auction and their chances were evaluated accordingly.
Bowling was their stronger suit and yet they were not the best bowling unit in the competition. Batting? People said the less you talk about it the better.
With the ball, they have maximized the stronger suit. It’s done by mastering both powerplay and the death bowling phase.
Their bowling average of 18.5 runs per wicket is the best by a margin. At the same time, the economy of 7.3 is the second-best. They are constantly challenging the top-orders of the opposition.
Mohammad Shami has delivered 21 out of 48 overs for Gujarat in the powerplay, picking eight wickets, the most in the phase at present. His success mantra has been delivering peach after peach, which would get batters out irrespective of the format.
At the death, they have an economy rate of only 8.5, more than a run cheaper than any other team. Wickets at the top and miserly economy at the death, it is the perfect bowling setup.
The best example of this efficient setup was visible in their win over Kolkata. A combined effort from Shami, Lockie Ferguson, Joseph, Rashid Khan and the youngster Yash Dayal defended a par total of 156.
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On the contrary, the seemingly brittle batting has been about finding new heroes, which again they have done consistently.
Shubman Gill played two of the most high-class knocks of the tournament before fading out. Pandya is the highest run-scorer for the side. The likes of Miller, Tewatia and Rashid have stepped in whenever necessary.
Tewatia has been the biggest revelation. He has justified the hefty paycheque of INR 9 crore by finishing a run chase not once but thrice. Gujarat have a run-rate of 15.3 in the last two overs of run chases this season. Tewatia’s contribution in these last two overs reads 40 off 14 balls with four sixes. He has been at the heart of a couple of these jailbreaks.
Rashid has stepped on the ladder of his all-rounder claims. His karate style batting has earned him 71 runs off 36 balls. Against Hyderabad, Tewatia and Rashid added unbeaten 59 runs off 24 balls to stage the heist.
It is not a perfect batting line-up but someone has always outperformed himself with a point to prove. On Wednesday, it was Wriddhiman Saha, scoring 68 off 38 balls to set up the chase.
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Almost every Gujarat player has made a conscious effort of mentioning the support staff that has kept a light environment and enabled them the freedom to express themselves. A shade of it was conspicuous in Rashid’s interview post the win on Wednesday.
“They are giving me chances to bat. Even in the nets, I am batting a lot more,” he said in a grateful tone for the franchise to harbor his ambitions of becoming an all-rounder.
Such little care matters, especially when you are playing in a bio-bubble environment. These are the qualities based on which Gary Kirsten established good relations with the Indian team that won the 2011 World Cup. Ashish Nehra’s detachment with technology is ironically refreshing. A dressing room footage shed light on his compact post-match speech: Eat and rest well.
The freedom reflects in Hardik Pandya’s captaincy. As a cricketer, he likes to make things happen and has led the team with the same flair. Gujarat is thriving off it. In addition, his all-round skills and rising ambitions have absorbed many frailties in the squad composition that were apparent post-auction.
Although, Pandya mentioned one more thing in the post-match presentation.
“I am getting scared that by the time the main games come, we might run out of luck,” he said. We will change that last word to good fortune to acknowledge the hard work they have put in. But this seems to be the only challenge in front of them: to continue with this momentum and keep churning out new match-winners.
Up until now, they are a vibe. They have shown that stars and analysis of the game are secondary. Cricket is about playing the ball and they are doing it better than most teams by keeping things simple.
