Wasim Jaffer reveals Gujarat Titans’ IPL strategy

The Gujarat Titans (GT) have had a successful debut IPL season, winning three of their four league matches. The team's unblemished record in the competition came to an end in their most recent match, when they failed to defend 162 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). In their fifth match of the season, they are currently playing the Rajasthan Royals (RR). Wasim Jaffer, a former Indian cricketer, highlighted the Titans' hitting deficiencies and praised the Sunrisers for their approach against GT spinner Rashid Khan.

Matthew Wade hasn't been in great form, according to Jaffer, placing some pressure on Shubman Gill to be a big contributor. He believes the squad could bring in Afghanistan wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who is an explosive batter in the T20 format. He also thinks Hardik is suffering against spinners due to his lack of exposure at number four in the IPL and international cricket.

Jaffer stated that because Wade isn't contributing regularly, the burden is on Gill to spend more time on the crease, where he is responsible for the majority of the scoring. Gurbaz is on the squad and, based on his recent performance, could be given a chance in the forthcoming games. Hardik has never batted at number four before this season, which explains why he gets tangled up against spinners. Jaffer also mentioned that Abhinav Manohar and Sai Sudharsan, for example, are inexperienced, while Tewatia arrives late. He believes the GT is reliant on the efforts of two to three batters.

The Sunrisers' performance against the Titans, in which they cautiously played out Rashid and attacked the fifth bowling option, Darshan Nalkande, to win the game, impressed Jaffer. He also stated that Tewatia should focus on getting wickets rather than containing runs, which will be extremely beneficial to the Titans in their next encounters.

He remarked that the SRH stuck to the script and didn't give Rashid any wickets, instead attacking the fifth and sixth bowlers, while Lockie had a terrible day. Tewatia is a run-containment option rather than a wicket-taker. It might be difficult to take wickets in T20 if you don't have a wicket-taking mindset. Other teams can follow them in order to gain 20-25 runs from Rashid and target other bowlers, which is a good strategy.