As one of the two newbie teams in this year’s IPL, the Gujarat Titans’ campaign will be under some serious scrutiny from fans. Perhaps even more so than the Lucknow Super Giants, given that the Titans will be playing at Ahmedabad’s iconic Narendra Modi stadium, the largest cricket ground in the world.
Leading up to the tournament, the Titans’ lineup has been the subject of some interesting discussions among their fans due to one reason or another. So it’s only fair that we, as ardent fans of the game, hop into the hype bandwagon and try to analyse the Titans’ team. That’s exactly what we’ll be doing in this article, by looking at their ideal starting level for IPL 2022.
The top-order
Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha headline the top-two of the Titans’ batting unit. Both these batters have a fair deal of experience batting in the powerplay overs, and are more than capable of skillfully using the fielding restrictions in the first six overs to their advantage.
At number 3, they will have the versatile and mercurial Matthew Wade assuming a similar role to what he does for the Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League. The Titans’ do have a fair bit of flexibility in shuffling their top 3 batting and wicket-keeping options, given that all three players have impressive T20 numbers batting at the top.
But Wade’s solid record for the Hurricanes might just see him start in this lineup as the de-facto number 3. He can also keep wickets, but it’s more likely that Saha will assume that role in most games because of his familiarity with local conditions.
Backups available: Sai Sudharshan, Abhinav Manohar
The middle order
Vijay Shankar makes it into our playing XI as Gujarat’s first-choice two-down batter. He has a good deal of IPL experience, albeit he has been lacking the consistency, which is something he would be keen to address this season. He will be followed by his captain, the mercurial, hard-hitting Hardik Pandya at number 5. Between the two, the Titans should also have some decent part-time bowling options available if need be.
In at number six, we’ve gone with Rahul Tewatia to assume the role of a hard-hitting all-rounder. But much like Shankar, consistency has been one area where Tewatia hasn’t really been able to impress all that much, which is something the Gujarat management would be looking to address. Following him at number 7 will be Rashid Khan, whose explosiveness with the bat will be a great asset for the Titans in the finishers’ department.
Backups available: David Miller, Gurkeerat Singh Mann
The bowling attack
Rashid Khan will be leader of Gujarat Titans’ bowling attack, and captain Pandya’s primary wicket-taking option. He has an experienced cast of wicket-taking bowlers to work alongside with in Mohammed Shami and Lockie Ferguson, which is a testament to the Titans’ impressive bowling unit.
For the last two spots, we’ve gone with some untested albeit promising T20 picks in Dominic Drakes and Sai Kishore. Both have looked really impressive in the local level T20 chances they’ve got so far- Drakes in the CPL, Kishore in the Syed Mustaq Ali trophy. It will be interesting to see how well their talent translates playing in the IPL.
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Backups available: Noor Ahmad, Alzarri Joseph, Pradeep Sangwan, Varun Aaron
Gujarat Titans best playing XI: Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Matthew Wade, Vijay Shankar, Hardik Pandya (c), Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Dominic Drakes, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami, R Sai Kishore