The Indian Premier League is everywhere. From Star Sports’ uninterrupted broadcast, to its OTT platform, advertisements (print or digital), and fantasy leagues, in conversations on social media or otherwise, even on radio shows – it is all around us and there is no escape. The morning after Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia performed another Houdini act against Sunrisers Hyderabad, this writer was listening to a radio broadcast, wherein there was only one hot topic. Just how good are Gujarat Titans? More importantly, how did they do it even?
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“After the auctions, I was looking at their team and I just didn’t see this happening,” hollered the RJ, amidst the din of countless, repetitive IPL-related advertisements.
His statement does ring out true, for what it is worth. Eight games, seven wins, one loss, 14 points and a healthy NRR of +0.371 (at the time of writing), and the Titans are sitting pretty on top of the points’ table. This team has been there or thereabouts at the top from the very start, never losing grip of its position. Mathematically, it is already through to the knockouts, barring an epic disaster in the remaining six games.
Truth told there is more chance of Mumbai Indians winning a game this season than Gujarat not making it to the knockouts. And so, you want to revisit that aforementioned statement – just how has Gujarat done it?
You have to start with the variation in stand out performances. In six of their wins, every time a different Gujarat player has come forth to win the man-of-the-match. Mohammed Shami and Lockie Ferguson did it in the first two games, Shubman Gill in the third, skipper Hardik Pandya in the fifth, David Miller in the sixth, and Rashid Khan in the eighth games, respectively.
And it’s not just about the awards, for there have been other scintillating performances. Rahul Tewatia has come through twice, finishing in thunderous style against Punjab Kings and then setting up the chase for Khan to finish it off against Hyderabad. Widdhiman Saha has come through in that last game as well.
You look up and down the squad’s statistics, and you don’t find one or two names standing out, like Jos Buttler and Yuzvendra Chahal do for the Rajasthan Royals. That duo has set up atleast five of Rajasthan’s six wins. For Gujarat, it is truly different in that a new name has stood up in various scenarios and situations.
It starts with Hardik Pandya, who is leading from the front. When he made the switch from Mumbai Indians, there were doubts if this move would succeed. First up, questions abounded if he was going there as batsman or all-rounder. Those fears were dispelled when he picked up the ball regularly and hit 140-plus consistently, before the groin injury laid him low.
Meanwhile, he has also led with the bat. Moving to Gujarat allowed him to discover a new facet to his batting skills, up the order, first at number four and now at number three when Vijay Shankar couldn’t grasp that spot. It makes for a thinking captain, inspirational too, when he is countering persistent problems and taking responsibility by offering himself as the solution.
In that, coach Ashish Nehra backs Pandya, and their bonding is visible in the fleeting smiles exchanged after crossing victory lines. They are quite similar – maverick personas, who have re-defined boundaries to excel at the highest level. If Gujarat has Miller, Tewatia and Khan doing the impossible repeatedly, it is because Pandya-Nehra are representative of that desire to push limits.
More than Miller, the latter duo adheres to this definition in every way possible. Khan, for instance, will forever be an inspiration to the Afghan people. He is your quintessential T20 cricketer, and he has cut across international boundaries to succeed across the world. Whether bowling, batting, or even captaincy, Khan epitomises the never-give-up spirit, a keen facet of this fast-paced format.
Tewatia is cut from the same cloth too. Put him out there in the middle, and he is always thinking of how to grab a win in that particular situation. 12 off 2 balls? No problem. 56 off 24 balls? No problem at all. He has grown up and matured onto this stage coming through all obstacles of adversity. There is nothing an opponent can offer within the boundary ropes that Tewatia cannot match up to.
It is this quintessential spirit Gujarat works upon. You take this feeling, add it to someone like Miller, who hasn’t had a good run in the IPL for ages, and you get that 94 not out off 51 balls. It was both a stunning and mercurial knock. By his own admission afterwards, Miller said he didn’t expect to be playing in IPL 2022 and yet here he was, breaking his team out of jail against Chennai Super Kings. Isn’t it plain what inspired him?
Like any other team though, Gujarat has normal issues to take care of too. Their top-order is a continuous concern. Shubman Gill hasn’t done much since game four. Matthew Wade has been relegated to the bench. Shankar cannot buy a run. Saha is only just coming through. The batting line-up overall remains wobbly, despite many mesmerising moments. The bowling attack is too pace-dependent, almost a one-trick pony at times. But it all clicks, enveloped by those mercurial moments. Don’t ask how, for it just does.
The question then remains. Can it continue to click long enough for Pandya to lift the 2022 IPL trophy? Wouldn’t that be a sight? Let us turn back the pages of time, for no new franchise has won the title in its inaugural year, discounting the first season (2008) of course.
Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Pune Warriors India finished eighth and tenth in their inaugural 2011 IPL season. Rising Pune Supergiants finished seventh in 2016. That same season though, Gujarat Lions, the other two-year franchise, finished top of the table. There’s something about franchises titled Gujarat, you wonder.
Albeit, the Lions fell by the wayside in the knockouts, losing both qualifiers. Even so, if Pandya’s team meet the same fate – topping the table, only to lose out in the knockouts – they will accept it.
For, this has been a fascinating start to what promises to be a long ins for the Gujarat Titans.
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