Follow UsGujarat Titans, sitting at the top of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 points table before the halt in the IPL on May 9, will be looking to make the best use of that advantage when the league resumes on May 17 again.
However, even if the Titans qualify for the playoffs, which is the most likely scenario with them already having 16 points in their kitty, the Shubman Gill-led side will be missing big guns when it matters the most.
Jos Buttler (England), Sherfane Rutherford (West Indies) and Kagiso Rabada (South Africa) will not be available for the Titans for the IPL 2025 playoffs.
While Rabada was not available for the Titans for one month before the IPL suspension kicked in on May 9, he would be a great addition to the team post the restart of the league.
But to the Titans’ misfortune, the pacer has been named in South Africa’s squad for the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Final 2024-25, to be held from June 11.
The Proteas are scheduled to play a warm-up game against Zimbabwe from June 3 onwards and hence Rabada’s unavailability for the playoffs is certain.
Since England and West Indies will be playing a limited overs series starting May 9 and with both Rutherford and Buttler named in their respective squads, the two will also not be available for the Titans for the playoffs, starting May 29.
Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Anuj Rawat (wk), Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan, Rashid Khan, R Sai Kishore, Arshad Khan, Gerald Coetzee, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
Since Rutherford was used as an impact substitute mostly and Rabada had not been in the scheme of things for GT, all they would need is a replacement for Buttler. For that, they can slot in Anuj Rawat as a top-order wicket-keeper batter, who will also provide variation as a left-hander.
To balance things out, they can play Dasun Shanaka as an impact player with his ability to tonk the ball long and hard and also bowl crucial powerplay overs with proven quality to swing the white ball early on. Don't be surprised if Washington Sundar also plays a more prominent role with the bat in hand. That being said, Rawat is a certainty in the XI if Buttler misses out since GT will need someone to don the gloves.
Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Arshad Khan, Gerald Coetzee, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Sherfane Rutherford, Anuj Rawat, Mahipal Lomror, Dasun Shanaka, Ishant Sharma, Manav Suthar, Kumar Kushagra, Gurnoor Brar, Nishant Sindhu, Kulwant Khejroliya, Karim Janat, Jayant Yadav