Champions and runners-up in their first two IPL seasons, all that can go wrong did with Gujarat Titans
Gujarat Titans’ IPL 2024 did start on a promising note with a win over Mumbai Indians, captained by Hardik Pandya who had left despite leading them in two heady seasons. However, things didn’t turn out as expected for both teams.
For MI, getting Pandya back didn’t have the desired result while it left a gaping hole in GT which they couldn’t fill. Both teams had the dubious distinction of dropping out early from the playoffs race.
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Last week, MI were the first to be eliminated, and after Monday’s game against Kolkata Knight Riders was washed out in Ahmedabad, GT’s elimination was also confirmed. Only a win could’ve kept eighth-placed Titans in the hunt.
Having entered IPL in 2022 and won straightaway, Titans established themselves further by finishing runners-up last year. GT though just couldn’t find the consistency they had under Pandya. In 2022 and 2023, they were hands down the most impressive IPL side. Topping the table both seasons with 20 points each, GT took the league by storm, showing that they had the best template for T20 cricket.
They became the envy of competitors. Other teams wanted to emulate their formula. GT were incisive in powerplay, struck early blows with the new ball led by Mohammed Shami, and were effective in the death overs, in bowling and batting. Pandya, with coach Ashish Nehra, proved the man with the Midas touch. He became an inspirational figure, leading from the front in batting and bowling.
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In fact, looking at the players they picked in the auction, no one had expected big things from GT. A leading cricket website even gave them an auction rating of 5.5. That’s where they benefitted from the balance provided by a pace-bowling all-rounder in Pandya.
In 2022, Pandya scored 487 runs (avg 44.27, SR 131.27) and bowled 30.3 overs (8 wkts, economy 7.28). Last season, he scored 346 runs (avg 31.45, SR 136.76) and bowled 25 overs (3 wkts, econ 9.12).
He was the batting lynchpin, holding the innings together in the middle-order. He also provided crucial breakthroughs with the ball. His value was on full display in the 2022 final — he became only the second player in IPL history to claim three wickets and score over 30 runs to single-handedly win the game. Pandya’s equation with Nehra and the other support staff also stood out.
IPL giants MI though swooped in to get Pandya back, making him skipper. While MI didn’t get the results, the impact of his trade has been felt by GT, who couldn’t recover from the blow.
Their captain’s departure meant GT had to work on finding the right balance. With quality Indian pace-bowling all-rounders being a rare commodity, GT’s think-tank was banking on the Impact Player rule to make up for their talisman’s loss. New captain Shubman Gill tried hard, but couldn’t find the right combination. With results not going their way, they kept chopping and changing. They ended up using as many as 23 players — the most so far by a team this season — but the struggle continued.
After a bright start, they remained inconsistent. Before beating Chennai Super Kings last week, they lost three straight games to lose momentum.
GILL’S CAPTAINCY
GT’s batting didn’t click as they ended with the season’s lowest net run rate (-1.063). In a tournament where teams were chasing 200 runs and scoring 250 runs easily, GT rarely touched 200.
Gill too was nowhere near as prolific as in the previous seasons for GT. Captaining for the first time, tactically he didn’t do badly but it hurt the team when his batting returns slid. After a blockbuster 2023 season (890 runs, avg 59.33, SR 157.80), he scored 426 runs at 38.73 in 12 games this season.
The best batting effort by GT and Gill came in their last game against CSK when he and opening partner B Sai Sudarshan both hit hundreds in a total of 231/3.
In bowling, they badly missed Shami, who was out after heel surgery. GT’s template was built on attacking bowling and a strong finish with the bat. Shami was the key with his ability to give early breakthroughs. In 2022, he took 20 wickets in 16 matches; last year, he took 28 wickets in 17 matches.
With Shami absent, they banked heavily on Rashid Khan, but he wasn’t the same force, having undergone back surgery and made a comeback in March. The ace leg-spinner had his most unproductive IPL season, taking 10 wickets in 12 matches (avg 36.70). Last season, he took 27 wickets in 17 games (avg 20.44).
The highlight of GT’s success used to be finishers David Miller and Rahul Tewatia closing out chases from impossible situations. Neither made an impact this time. In an injury-affected season, Miller had 210 runs in nine innings (avg 35, SR 151.08) and Tewatia 188 in nine innings (26.86, 145.74).
Miller said after GT’s back-to-back defeats to RCB: “It’s a tough one, in this game the margins are so small and there are certain games which we should have potentially won and that we lost. Had we won them, we would have been very different — six from 11. Now we are four from 11, so behind the eight ball. In the first two years, we played really well, won those crucial moments. This year, we haven’t been able to win those (key phases), hence losing the close games. Also, Shami in the powerplay was really exceptional; we missed him, picking wickets as well as keeping the economy rate down.”
