Gujarat Titans are currently in the midst of a dream start with six wins from seven matches
Gujarat Titans are currently in the midst of a dream start with six wins from seven matches
Speed gun radar will be working overtime when Lockie Ferguson’s 150 clicks Thunderbolts meet their match in rising speed sensation Umran Malik’s toe crusher as table toppers Gujarat Titans close-on-heels Sunrisers at IPL in Mumbai on Wednesday Will clash with Hyderabad.
The IPL newcomers are currently in the midst of a dream debut year, with six wins from seven matches in the half-leg and being placed at the top of the table.
Interestingly, Titans have suffered only one loss in their campaign so far, which was against Sunrisers in the last meeting and Hardik Pandya will have no problem in taking sweet revenge of that defeat.
However, the ‘Orange Army’ bowling attack especially their four-pronged fast bowling unit has been exceptional when they demolished RCB for 68 in their previous encounter.
Disappointing bounce and pace created by Marco Jensen (6 wickets in 5 matches) Umran (10 wickets in 7 matches) fast pace, T Natarajan (15 from 7 matches) by deception and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (9 out of 7) completely is complementary. Games) balanced it all with his experience.
In the absence of Washington Sundar, the light spin department, handled by left-arm spinner Jagdish Suchit, has so far not been a concern for Kane Williamson and his band.
In fact, the rub of green has come SRH’s way in this particular season as they now have five consecutive wins in five matches where they have chased down the target after the bowlers intimidated the rival batting unit.
For Pandya though, his bowling unit is no less than SRH as Mohammed Shami’s artistry (10 from 7 matches) and the aggression of Ferguson (9 wickets in 7 matches) should not make him forget Rashid Khan (8 wickets in 7 matches) . sport) the ability to be more than decent by his standards, even in a quiet year.
However, one area where Titans need to step up their game is the powerplay batting as Shubman Gill (207 from 7 matches) is out on the boil after his 96 and Wriddhiman Saha, in place of Matthew Wade, is downright has been of average quality.
In fact, Saha’s tendency to waste the balls first (a disappointing SR of 83 in 2 matches) in both the matches he has played so far has led to captain Pandya (295 from 6 matches) and David Miller (220 from 7 matches) taking the lead. forced to. Before they can take some time to play themselves.
Titans arsenal don’t have a quality keeper-batsman for this format as Wade didn’t really have a good time in the first five games and Saha has always been a player who takes time to settle down before he can Is. Play some shots.
The set-up has Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz, but to play him, the Titans would have to sacrifice a powerful fast bowling option like West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph, which would not be the most sensible thing to do.
Abhinav Manohar and Rahul Tewatia would also like to be more consistent in the role of finishers rather than being like a flash in the pan for a match or two.
However, the Titans’ bowling attack has the potential to catch SRH’s batting unit off-guard, given that it is accompanied by young Abhishek Sharma (220 from 7 matches) and No. 3 batsman Rahul Tripathi (212 from 7 games). Hasn’t been tested a lot. ) Doing most of the scoring in easy chases.
If Titans can break the Sunrisers top-order, most of the middle-order batsmen, including the dangerous Nicholas Pooran, have yet to get a decent hit in the middle-order and rusting under pressure could keep Titans interested.
If they manage to break SRH’s momentum, it will take them closer to the play-offs in their first year in the championship, a no-mind feat in a competition in this class.
Teams (from):
Gujarat Titans: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Gurkeerat Singh, B Sai Sudarshan, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Matthew Wade, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Wriddhiman Saha, Alzarri Joseph, Darshan Nalkande, Dominic Drakes, Jayant Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmed, Pradeep Sangwan, Rashid Khan, Ravi Srinivasan, Sai Kishore, Varun Aaron, Yash Dayal.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Priyam Garg, Vishnu Vinod, Glenn Phillips, R Samarth, Shashank Singh, Romario Shepherd, Marco Jensen, J Suchit, Shreyas Gopal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sean Abbott , Kartik Tyagi, Saurabh Tiwari, Fazlhaq Farooqui, Umran Malik, T Natarajan.
Match starts: 7.30 pm. IST