Brimming with confidence after recording a victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their previous encounter, Gujarat Titans will look to do an encore as they prepare to host Punjab Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in a league match of the IPL 2024 in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
The Gujarat Titans have won two of their three matches in IPL 2024 so far, winning both in home conditions, and will look to extend their dominant run in their den. Having said that, Gujarat will be hoping for a collective batting effort from their top and middle order, with skipper Shubman Gill leading the pack.
Shubman and fellow opener Wriddhiman Saha have got the team to decent starts in patches, and B Sai Sudarshan has been their most productive batter, but the onus lies on their power-hitters David Miller, Azmatullah Omarzai and Vijay Shankar to raise the tempo towards the later part of the innings.
More than their batting unit, Gujarat will be proud of their bowling department, spearheaded by the veteran Mohit Sharma, who has set the trend, save LSG’s Mayank Yadav’s thunderbolts, with his variations — knuckle balls, slow bouncers and wide yorkers to outfox opposition batters. The Titans have also benefited immensely from the accuracy of Afghanistan spin duo of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed.
Punjab Kings, on the other hand, have endured two away losses out of their three outings, and can’t afford any more hiccups as the tournament gradually gets into the thick of competitive action.
In their previous contest against the Lucknow Super Giants, the Punjab Kings were rattled by the raw pace of Mayank, but could face a different set of challenges against the likes of Mohit & Co, smartly taking off pace. This could be more challenging for the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow and Jitesh Sharma, all of whom like the ball to come onto the bat.
Punjab will be hoping for the speedy return of Liam Livingstone, who sustained a hamstring niggle in the last game. Livingstone’s absence could adversely affect the Kings’ as his late-order pyrotechnics with the willow eventually add muscle to their scores. In the case of Livingstone’s unavailability for Thursday’s match, Punjab could pick Zimbabwean Sikandar Raza for the job.
Punjab’s area of concern also stretches to their ineffective bowling line-up, with their million dollar buy Harshal Patel, enduring a pathetic season so far, going for an economy rate of 11.41 runs per over, having bowled his quota in all three games.
While Sam Curran has delivered with the bat, he is yet to deliver the goods with his left-arm pace. Kagiso Rabada and Arshdeep Singh will once again be expected to do the heavy-lifting in the scenario.
Punjab’s spin bowling unit has left-armer Harpreet Brar, going decently, but their leg-spinner Rahul Chahar has conceded runs at an economy rate of 11.37, compounding their worries.