The Gujarat Titans assembled a squad of 23 players in the IPL 2022 Auction, which was held in Bengaluru across two days on 12 and 13 February.
Ashish Nehra and Co started off well as they signed Indian pacer Mohammed Shami, England batter Jason Roy, and New Zealand fast bowler Lockie Ferguson as their first three picks. Ferguson was the most expensive of the three as the Titans had to shell out Rs 10 crore to acquire his services. They got Shami at a hefty price of Rs 6.25 crore after some intense bidding as well. But they walked away with Roy rather easily, picking him up at his base price of Rs 2 crore. Roy though has since pulled out of the season, with Gujarat signing Rahmanullah Gurbaz as his replacement.
These three players were excellent additions to go with their retentions – Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan, and Shubman Gill. The Titans showed how well they had scouted domestic players as well when they picked up Karnataka's Abhishek Manohar Sadarangani for Rs 2.60 crore. The middle-order batter had impressed everyone with his performances in the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali season, amassing 162 runs in five matches at an average of 54 and strike-rate of 150.
However, the tables turned when they splurged the huge amount of Rs 9 crore on Rahul Tewatia. That looked rather unnecessary as Tewatia had pretty poor returns in the last season. The former Rajasthan Royals player amassed 155 runs in IPL 2021 at a poor average and strike-rate of 15.50 and 105.44 respectively. As a bowler, he picked up just eight wickets and was pretty expensive as well, going at 9.18 runs per over.
After that, they had fallen behind in the budget game as compared to other franchises and had to choose their players carefully while being mindful of their available purse. They were also without a wicket-keeper right until the last round on the second day of the auction, where they picked up Matthew Wade and Wriddhiman Saha, and that sums up how they struggled to fill their slots in the end. Here, we take a look at how their overall squad stacks up, their strengths as a unit and their challenges in the season ahead.
Strength
Strong Bowling Attack
Gujarat Titans' pace-bowling unit runs pretty deep with Lockie Ferguson and Mohammed Shami as the first-choice pacers. Shami has been a much improved T20 pacer in the last couple of years whereas Ferguson is one of the fastest pacers in the world right now, and is extremely good in the death overs. West Indies' Alzarri Joseph, who has played for Mumbai Indians previously and also impressed with his performances in the recent ODIs against India, is an excellent backup option for Ferguson too.
Dominic Drakes is another exciting pick as he can bowl left-arm pace along with being a handy lower-order batter. He was with Chennai Super Kings last season and has been a good performer in the Caribbean Premier League as well. Varun Aaron also brings loads of experience with him and so does Pradeep Sangwan, who got a well-deserved deal after impressing everyone with his bowling during the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 season, picking nine wickets in five matches during the tournament at an excellent average of 15.77.
There is Darshan Nalkande as well who has been a consistent performer for Vidarbha in the last three seasons. He can bowl at high pace and is pretty good at the death too. Nalkande has 43 wickets to his name in just 22 T20 matches at an average of 12.76.
But Yash Dayal, who was picked up for Rs 3.20 crore after an intense bidding war with KKR and RCB, has better chances of forming the pace trio with Shami and Ferguson than other pacers.
The 24-year-old left-arm pacer was Uttar Pradesh's second highest wicket-taker in the recent Vijay Hazare Trophy season as he picked up 14 wickets in just seven matches at an average of 17.35. He has also played 15 T20 games to date, picking up an equal number of wickets at an average of 22.13. Dayal stands at almost six foot and can consistently clock around 140 kph. These factors might help him to start for the Titans as he adds an X-factor to their bowling attack.
Combine the versatile pace-bowling trio with the wizardry of Rashid Khan and the attack becomes even more lethal. The Afghan spinner has been one of the best T20 bowlers in the world consistently for more than five years now and batters still don't have the upper hand over him. Tewatia, with his wrist-spin, will probably form the fifth bowling option. He had middling returns last season but the presence of Rashid from the other end might make him more effective, thus increasing his chances of picking up wickets.
As far as the backup spinners are concerned, the Titans have another quality spinner in R Sai Kishore, who has impressed everyone with his performances for Tamil Nadu in the last couple of seasons. Jayant Yadav is an effective option too whereas left-arm Afghan wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad provides a quality cover for Rashid Khan.
Challenges
Hardik Pandya's untested captaincy and uncertainty surrounding his bowling
Hardik Pandya has never led a side at this level before and, thus, his leadership will certainly be under the spotlight this season, more so considering his injuries and struggles with form of late. The 28-year-old amassed just 127 runs in IPL 2021 at a poor average of 14.11 and at an underwhelming strike-rate of 113.39. Moreover, he hasn't bowled even a single ball in the last two IPL seasons.
Although Hardik has been trying his best to regain full fitness in order to bowl again, things have just not gone his way after his back surgery a couple of years ago. Though he has assured his fans that he is gearing up to bowl in full tilt in the upcoming IPL season, it still remains an uncertainty and a cause of concern to the balance of the Titans' side.
Lack of Batting Depth
The Titans messed things up when they shelled out a whopping Rs 9 crore to acquire the services of Rahul Tewatia. As a result, they couldn't compete with other franchises for popular overseas players like Liam Livingstone, Mitchell Marsh, Jonny Bairstow, and others. They made up for it to some extent when they bought the likes of David Miller and Matthew Wade but their team construction is such that the two batters can't fit into the same XI. Moreover, apart from Roy and Miller, Wade is the only overseas batting cover they have.
As far as Indian batters go, Gill seems like the only reliable choice considering the potential he has, even though his returns in the last couple of seasons have been far from ideal. Saha had a pretty mediocre time last season where he amassed 131 runs at a poor strike-rate of 93.57 in nine outings. Even though Abhinav Manohar and Sai Sudharsan are highly rated young players at the domestic circuit, they are still untested at this level. In fact, the likes of Vijay Shankar and Gurkeerat Singh Mann, who have experience of playing in the IPL previously, don't inspire much confidence either as their returns have been pretty middling whenever they have played.
So, even though the Titans have filled up plenty of slots, the batting unit is lacking a lot in terms of quality.
How are Gujarat Titans going to line up in IPL 2022 ?
Combination 1: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Jason Roy, Shubman Gill, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Hardik Pandya (c), Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami, Yash Dayal/Darshan Nalkande
With Jason Roy, Rashid Khan, and Lockie Ferguson locked as their first three overseas choices, the fourth slot will most probably go to David Miller. If that is the case, No.4 will be the ideal slot for him as that gives him enough time to get his eye in and then explode towards the end.
That would force them to start with Saha as their wicket-keeper and it is best to slot him right at the top of the order to get the best returns out of his batting. Gill, in that case, moves down to No.3. Abhinav Manohar could start in the middle-order at the beginning of the season and if he lives up to the promise, he might retain that slot as well.
Combination 2: Jason Roy, Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade (wk), Vijay Shankar, Abhinav Manohar, Hardik Pandya (c), Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami, Yash Dayal/Darshan Nalkande
If Wade starts ahead of Miller, the Titans won't need to start with Saha. As a result, Gill can move to the top of the order along with Roy. Vijay Shankar might start in this case somewhere at No.3 or 4. His ability to chip in with his medium pace might also work in favour of his selection, more so if Hardik is still unfit to bowl.
IPL 2022 Prediction
On paper, they are a side capable of making it to the playoffs. Their bowling is pretty strong but there are some major concerns in their batting lineup in terms of balance, experience, and quality. Hardik's leadership might get tested in crunch situations as well. So, a mid-table finish looks likely for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022.
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