IPL2024: Gujarat Titans want to grow as a team against a revitalized RCB

When the Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bengaluru square off in the Indian Premier League here on Sunday, the latter squad, in dire need of a complete overhaul, will be mindful of the former’s increased middle-order potency.

With eight points from nine games, the Titans are now in seventh place in the standings. They need to win in order to stay above the Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings, who are both on eight points.

First and foremost, the Gujarat team needs its pacers to perform well. For the whole IPL, their speed bowling corps has been lackluster.

Sandeep Warrier (5 wickets, 10.85), Umesh Yadav (7 wickets, 10.55), and Mohit Sharma (10 wickets, economy: 10.35) have all let in a lot of runs, while backup quicks like Azmatullah Omarzai and Spencer Johnson have also not given much reason for optimism.

Their spinners, Noor Ahmad (6 wickets), R Sai Kishore (8 wickets), and Rashid Khan (8 wickets), have all been reliable but not particularly outstanding.

Now that RCB has discovered a glimmer of hope in its middle-order, which includes Cameron Green and Rajat Patidar, the troika’s work will be much more difficult.

While it is comforting to know that dew will not play a major role in a day game, facing Patidar and Green in particular requires much more than circumstances can provide.

Patidar has shown glimpses of his batting ability after a quiet start to the season, particularly against the spinners.

Batting in the middle phase in the past two matches, he struck powerful fifties while tackling Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy (KKR), and Mayank Markande (SRH).

While Patidar’s 20-ball fifty helped RCB defeat Hyderabad, his 23-ball fifty saw them almost win against Kolkata.

The right-hander, whose superior eye-hand coordination is more of a strength than creativity, will be motivated to have a comparable influence on the GT spinners. In his 20-ball 37 against the Sunrisers, Green also showed greatness and helped the RCB surpass the 200-run milestone.

It has freed opener Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis from the pressure of scoring in almost every game, and it has also assisted RCB in lessening their reliance on Dinesh Karthik and Mahipal Lomror down the order for a late push.

The GT hitters want to emulate their RCB teammates as well.

Although captain Shubman Gill and batsman Sai Sudharsan have amassed over 300 runs in this IPL, including three successive fifties, the GT middle-order has not really been able to do a follow-up performance.

Some players have had brief successes but have not sustained themselves, such as Rahul Tewatia (153), Shahrukh Khan (30), David Miller (138 runs), and Vijay Shankar (73).

The bowlers for the RCB, who were accurate against SRH while defending 207, will want more from the home team.

Even on the flat surface of HCA Stadium, their frontline pacers, Mohammed Siraj (4-0-20-0) and Yash Dayal (3-0-18-1), were outstanding against a strong batting lineup, keeping them guessing with their deft variations.

To help their lead bowlers, leg-spinner Karn Sharma and part-time pacer Green each took four wickets.

Therefore, they may be looking for an even better performance in a day game against GT’s inconsistent hitting team.

Teams (from): RCB: Faf du Plessis ©, Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chauhane.

GT: Shubman Gill ©, David Miller, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, B. Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma, Azmatullah Omarzai, Umesh Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi, Manav Suthar, Spencer Johnson, Sandeep Warrier, BR Sharath.