For the second time in IPL history, a franchise team from the state of Gujarat will play the tournament after Gujarat Lions played two seasons in 2016 and 2017. The name of the team is Gujarat Titans (GT) with its home ground at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahemdabad. It became clear when Gujarat Titans bagged Hardik Pandya, that he will lead this new team. Gujarat Titans also bought Rashid Khan and Shubman Gill as their pre-auction players. A total of 20 players was bought by the Gujarat Titans. Fans are saying it is a somewhat average team, not too bad or not too good. Will Hardik Pandya lead his team to win the IPL 2022 title?
Gujarat Titans picked an all-rounder Hardik Pandya, a leg-spinner Rashid Khan and an opening batsman Shubman Gill. When Sunrisers Hyderabad released Rashid Khan from their squad, fans were certain that he will be the costliest player of all this mega auction. But the Titans picked Rashid Khan before he goes under the hammer. The release of Hardik Pandya was quite obvious yet shocker for fans as Mumbai chose to go with Pollard as an all-rounder to retain.
These three players will be playing maximum matches throughout the tournament:
| Player | Role | Price | IPL 2021 Performance | T20 Performance in 2021 |
| Hardik Pandya | Hard-hitting AR | 15 Cr | 12M, 127 runs + 0W | 23M, 292 runs + 4W |
| Rashid Khan | Righ-arm leg-break bowler | 15 Cr | 14M, 18W, 6.72 economy | 53M, 75W, 6.53 economy |
| Shubman Gill | Right-hand batsman | 8 Cr | 17M, 478 runs, 28.12 avg, 118.91 SR | 22M, 617 runs, 28.05 avg, 118.20 SR |
- Hardik Pandya ever since came back from his back injury, hasn't performed noteworthy. We can see his new style of playing in the IPL 2022 as he has accepted the role of skipper. This may bring more responsible batter out of him and surprise fans who are used to his hard-hitting batting style. He will be leading the middle-order batting on his shoulders and pressure will be there for him to become a dependable finisher for the team.
- Rashid Khan is the most dependable and most consistent bowler in the world right now. Titans will be depending on his bowling. He has played 77 matches for SRH in IPL so far and picked 93 wickets with an economy rate of just 6.33! This shows his caliber as a bowler and he is definitely a key for Titans to perform well.
- Shubman Gill has an image of a Test-batsman because of his low SR of 124 in T20s. He will be looking to shatter this image of his and provide firey batting as an opening batter.
List of Indian players Gujarat Titans bought from the mega auction:
| Player | Role | Price | IPL 2021 Performance | SMAT 2021 Performance |
| Abhinav Manohar | Right-hand batsman | 2.6 Cr | – | 4M, 162 runs, 54 avg, 150 SR |
| Wriddhiman Saha | Right-hand batsman + WK | 1.9 Cr | 9M, 131 runs, 14.56avg, 93.57 SR | 5M, 73 runs, 18.25 avg, 101.39 SR |
| Rahul Tewatia | Right-arm Leg-spin AR | 9 Cr | 14M, 155 runs + 8W | 11M 132 runs + 6W |
| Vijay Shankar | Right-arm Medium AR | 1.4 Cr | 7M, 58 runs + 3W | 7M, 203 runs + 0W |
| Jayant Yadav | Right-arm Off-break AR | 1.7 Cr | 5M, 34 runs + 2W | 11M, 23 runs + 11W |
| Pradeep Sangwan | Left-arm Medium AR | 20 L | – | 9M, 16W, 8.03 economy |
| Sai Sudharsan | Left-hand batsman AR | 20 L | – | 7M, 182 runs, 36.4 avg, 119.74 SR |
| Darshan Nalkande | Right-arm Medium AR | 20 L | – | 13M, 24W, 6.89 economy |
| Gurkeerat Singh Mann | Right-hand batsman AR | 50 L | – | 12M, 290 runs, 48.33 avg, 130.63 SR |
| Mohammad Shami | Right-arm medium bowler | 6.25 Cr | 14M, 19W, 7.50 economy | – |
| R Sai Kishore | Left-arm Orthodox bowler | 3 Cr | – | 16M, 18W, 5.48 economy |
| Yash Dayal | Left-arm medium bowler | 3.2 Cr | – | 3M, 4W, 7.08 economy |
| Varun Aaron | Right-arm Fast bowler | 50 L | – | 1M, 0W, 9.0 economy |
- Out of these 13 players Gujarat Titans bought in the mega auction, 4 players are most likely to appear in the playing 11: Wriddhiman Saha, Rahul Tewatia, Mohammad Shami, and R Sai Kishore/Vijay Shankar/Jayant Yadav.
- Mohammad Shami will be playing a maximum number of games for the Titans. He has proven himself as a very good opening as well as a death bowler in the previous couple of seasons of IPL. He will continue to do so for Gujarat Titans this season.
- Among the wicket-keeping options, Saha comes first as an Indian choice. He can bat at almost any position but he performed well at the top order. Now it is up to the team management to decide his batting position. Poor domestic and previous season performance may make him a difficult choice.
- Rahul Tewatia is a decent all-rounder who can bowl in the middle-over and bat in the lower middle-order batting. He becomes a handy leg-spin option.
- R Sai Kishore has emerged as an impressive left-arm spinner in the domestic season and he is a strong contender to be included in the playing 11. He can bowl in the powerplay to disturb the opposition batting.
- If Gujarat Titans don't want to go with a spinner and want an all-rounder, they have Vijay Shankar and Jayant Yadav. Both have different roles. Shankar gets the upper hand with his domestic performance and can be used as 5th bowler when needed.
- Pradeep Sangwan becomes a crucial fast-bowler because he is a left-arm bowler. He gives a strategic advantage in particular matches and strong contender as a second fast bowler after Shami.
- Abhinav Manohar can bat alongside Gill as an opener and shine on his ability to make quick runs.
List of foreign players GT bought from the mega auction:
| Player | Role | Price | IPL 2021 Performance | T20 Performance in 2021 |
| Matthew Wade | Left-hand batsman + WK | 2.4 Cr | – | 32M, 582 runs, 22.38 avg, 143 SR |
| Jason Roy | Right-hand batsman | 2 Cr | 5M, 150 runs. 30.0 avg, 123.97 SR | 42M, 1186 runs, 32.05 avg, 138.07 SR |
| David Miller | Left-hand batsman | 3 Cr | 9M, 124 runs, 24.80 avg, 109.73 SR | 35M, 775 runs, 40.79 avg, 136.44 SR |
| Dominic Drakes | Left-arm medium | 1.1 Cr | – | 14M, 18W, 8.96 economy |
| Alzarri Joseph | Right-arm fast bowler | 2.4 Cr | – | 10M, 9W, 7.68 economy |
| Lockie Ferguson | Right-arm Pace fast bowler | 10 Cr | 8M, 13W, 7.47 economy | 32M, 43W, 7.15 economy |
| Noor Ahmad | Left-arm wrist-spin bowler | 30 L | – | 17M, 13W, 7.37 economy |
Out of these 6 overseas players, 3 are almost certain to appear in the playing 11 most often: Jason Roy, Matthew Wade, and Lockie Ferguson.
- English opener Jason Roy will be GT's first-choice opener alongside Gill. He is enjoying his red-hot form and will be looking to carry it to this season of IPL 2022.
- Matthew Wade can bat at any batting position. Most likely he will bat at 3/4 position. He can play explosive innings as well as can finish the game. He is a wicket-keeping option too.
- Lockie Ferguson is the current fire-ball pacer. Gujarat Titans will be looking to get the maximum of his abilities alongside Shami. He is in good form after his comeback from his injury. He can become the leading wicket-taker for the Titans in IPL 2022 season.
- David Miller can be classified as the most consistent middle-order batman right now and numbers speak in his favor.
- Dominic Drakes and Alzarri Joseph will be the second line of bowling attack for the Gujarat Titans.
The middle-order dilemma for Gujarat Titans?:
A team with Hardik Pandya in it has a middle-order dilemma? That doesn't sound correct, right? As we have the final list of the players in the squad, batting options for the middle-order are D Miller, W Saha, M Wade, H Pandya, R Tewatia, and V Shankar. After Roy and Gill, it is most likely that Saha or Wade will be options for number 3. Saha doesn't perform lower in the order, so he is only good at 3. That makes Wade number 4 and Miller number 5. So, Hardik himself at 6? Or should he promote Tewatia at 6?
Purpose of Hardik in the team?
Hardik at 6 & 7 might not able to hit bowlers like he used to do at 5 & 6. He most likely won't get enough chances to bowl much as there are already enough bowling options available. So the question arises, what role will captain Hardik Pandya will play as a player?
Probable, Ideal, and Stable Playing 11 for Gujarat Titans:
Openers: Shubman Gill, Jason Roy
Middle Order: Wriddhiman Saha (WK), David Miller/Matthew Wade,
All-rounders: Hardik Pandya (C), Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar,
Bowlers: Mohammad Shami, Rashid Khan, Lockie Ferguson, R Sai Kishore/Pradeep Sangwan/Yash Dayal
Hidden players who can surprise: Abhinav Manohar, Darshan Nalkande, and Yash Dayal.
Strength:
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Opportunities:
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The Verdict:
All come downs to Hardik Pandya and team management's approach towards the game. If Hardik chooses to bat at a lower middle-order and promote other batsmen, it may give good results. Rashid Khan alone can't win matches as a bowler. The team on paper looks balanced on 1 layer. Once a batter gets injured, Gujarat Titans don't have many like-to-like replacements available. The home ground of Gujarat Titans is Ahmedabad where the team will play half of the matches. Ahmedabad has notoriously known for its spin favoring pitches. This may help GT to dominate in at least half of the matches they play. GT doesn't lack in the bowling department at all. It is batting, what GT should be looking after.
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