Gujarat Titans joined the IPL in 2022. Since then, no IPL team has held a win-loss ratio as good as their 1.6 wins for each loss. In four IPLs, they have won the title once, come within one ball of winning another, topped the table twice and ended up third once.
GT have done so despite hitting the fewest sixes and despite being the fourth-slowest team with the bat. We are at a crossroads in the IPL where traditional powerhouses of the IPL are being left behind by teams that have blooded in young Indian batters who have taken T20 hitting to the next level.
That GT ended up third on the points table last year and are in the top four right now is an anomaly in these times. In the last four years they have not added any of the aforementioned young hitters to their squad but only strengthened their bowling.
GT seem to have doubled down on their trusted style of play: taking wickets and hitting fours instead of sixes. The tone is set right at the top. Last year, for example, neither Shubman Gill nor B Sai Sudharsan went out of their way to disrupt the bowlers. Against good lengths and hard lengths in the powerplay, they played only 14% and 11% balls in the air. Gill had a control rate of 77% against these balls. Gill still had an overall strike rate of 155, and Sudharsan 147.
It speaks to the skill and hard work of the GT batters that they could go at high strike rates without taking as many risks as some of the other batters. It also speaks to the lack of depth in their batting: at times you had Rashid Khan batting at No. 7, which automatically means you take fewer risks. However, sometimes not taking risks is a risk in itself. It has never been truer than of the T20 format in the era of Impact Player and flat pitches.
For this style of play to be successful, you need a bowling attack that lets you play this way. GT have always looked to recruit experienced, solid Test fast bowlers. When Mohammed Shami left, Mohammed Siraj was brought in. Kagiso Rabada is as good a Test bowler as any. Prasidh Krishna plays Tests for India because of his height. Then there is Rashid Khan to follow. Plus the addition of Ashok Sharma, who is hitting 150ks often.
The GT strategy with the ball is to hit the good lengths more than other teams do. That’s when, even though not the stingiest, the GT bowlers have the best average in these five years. That is exactly what was on display in their win against Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday. Gill saw some nip in the pitch, asked Siraj and Rabada to bowl through the powerplay, and the two thoroughbreds just kept hitting good length and extracting seam movement to leave KKR at 37 for 3 in six overs. Not many teams come back from that.
There seemed to be a slight shift in the way Gill and Sudharsan batted, though. Especially Gill because Sudharsan didn’t bat long enough. He hit six balls in the air in the powerplay. Only once in the last four years has he done so more often: in the last match. There seems to be some recognition for the need to change with times, but they are doing it within their means. They are hopeful Glenn Phillips makes up for the loss of Sherfane Rutherford, and are using Washington Sundar to add depth to the batting.
GT will be disappointed they didn’t win as emphatically as they should have after the start to their chase. Especially when it was against the bottom-placed team. They will face sterner tests against better teams. It will be fascinating to see how much their batting style really evolves from the last few years and how well the most consistent team of the last five years does in a rapidly changing T20 landscape.
