Gujarat Titans have batters like skipper Shubman Gill, Jos Buttler, Sai Sudarshan, Mahipal Lomror, Rahul Tewatia and Shahrukh Khan. With the likes of all-rounders Rashid Khan and Washington Sundar besides experienced bowlers like Kagiso Rabada, Mohd Suraj and Ishant Sharma along with many youngsters in their squad, it presents a rosy picture but also indicates at a problem of plenty.
Skipper Shubman Gill and head coach Ashish Nehra will have a huge headache picking a playing with the right balance from abundant resources at their disposal.
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However, on the eve of their opening match in Indian Premier League 2025: against Punjab Kings, skipper Shubman Gill denied they have a problem of plenty in batting department with the addition of Jos Buttler, who is another opener just like the Gujarat Titans skipper.
“I mean if you have someone like Jos Buttler in your team, no team would think of it as a problem. We’ve all seen what he has done in T20 cricket for England and in IPL. And I think in the previous series, he batted at number three.
So, I don’t think there is any problem with him about batting at different numbers. Having said that, we haven’t decided at which number he’ll bat. Maybe you’ll get to know about it tomorrow during the match.
“But over the course of I think eight, nine years that he’s played IPL, he’s (Buttler) played at different numbers and he’s performed at different numbers. So, I don’t see that as a problem for us,” said Gill.
Gujarat Titans have managed to retain the nucleus of the 2024 squad and though the same squad had failed to reach the playoffs in IPL 2024, Gill said they don’t have a lot to change in their approach.
“I think except for a few players that we have added in this team, I don’t think there is anything new formula or anything as such. I think I spoke about in the previous PC as well that we are the team with the highest win percentage in the past three years. So, I don’t think we need to change anything. The management also. I am saying most of the management is the same,” said Gill.
Gill said though Punjab Kings have a new-look team following the auction under new head coach Ricky Ponting and captain Shreyas Iyer, tackling them would not be a problem as they have played against all these players when they were part of different teams and their skill sets are the same.
“So that’s the point of having an auction every three years, right. You kind of have different teammates and coming to the opponents, I mean as a team they are playing together for the first time. But we have played those players. We have played against them or with them at some point in our career. So, the skill set that they bring to the table isn’t anything new
“Of course you can talk about different combinations and all those things but we have played against those players.
So i terms of their skillset there isn’t like anything new or anything that we don’t know,” said Gill.
The Gujarat Titans skipper expressed hope that his players will be able to perform at their optimum in IPL 2025 and help the franchise regain the title they won in 2022.
