Gujarat Titans is a newly formed franchise included in this season of IPL. With the inclusion of 2 new teams, the mega auction has been completed and though every team looks strong but also there are some loopholes in every franchise.
Before the auction, Gujarat got an option to pick 3 players in the draft. They drafted India's all-rounder Hardik Pandya and gave him the leadership role. They also chose the young opener Shubman Gill and the Afghan magic spinner, Rashid Khan which is a great inclusion.
In the 2 days of mega auction, Gujarat Titans bought some exciting players which have been stated as follows -
Hardik Pandya (Retained at 15 cr)
Rashid Khan (Retained at 15 cr)
Shubman Gill (Retained at 8 cr)
Mohammed Shami (6.25 cr)
Lockie Ferguson (10 cr)
Abhinav Sadarangani (2.6 cr)
Rahul Tewatia (9 cr)
Noor Ahmad (0.3 cr)
R Sai Kishore (3 cr)
Dominic Drakes (1.1 cr)
Jayant Yadav (1.7 cr)
Vijay Shankar (1.4 cr)
Darshan Nalkande (0.2 cr)
Yash Dayal (3.2 cr)
Alzarri Joseph (2.4 cr)
Pradeep Sangwan (0.2 cr)
David Miller (3 cr)
Wriddhiman Saha (1.9 cr)
Matthew Wade (2.4 cr)
Gurkeerat Singh Mann (0.5 cr)
Varun Aaron (0.5 cr)
B Sai Sudharsan (0.2 cr)
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (0.5 cr)
Courtesy: sports360cricket
Gujarat Titans announced Rahmanullah Gurbaz as the replacement of Jason Roy who pulled out from this year's IPL due to bio bubble fatigue.
Gujarat Titans look like a stable squad with a great bowling lineup and they possess the Afghan spin duo (Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed) along with Tamilnadu's R Sai Kishore who had a great domestic season this year.
The only weak link in this squad is the lack of Indian middle-order batting options. They don't have any known impactful player in the middle order.
Courtesy: IndiaWest
Probable 11
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK)
Shubman Gill
Abhinav Sadarangani
Gurkeerat Singh Mann
David Miller
Hardik Pandya (C)
Rahul Tewatia
R Sai Kishore
Rashid Khan
Mohammed Shami
Lockie Ferguson
Strength: Gujarat Titans' strength is their depth in bowling along with multi-dimensional options. Their spin bowling is quite strong and can change the game on any day. The pace battery will be in the hands of Ferguson who will hold the key for them and the experience of Shami will help the team in every way.
Weakness: The middle order looks sloppy and not reliable in pressure situations either Hardik step up and play pure Batsman at 4 or the domestic man Abhinav Sadarangani do some magic in his debut season. The only known middle order batsman is Miller who is out of touch since last 2 years. If gets his form back then this will the big boost for them.
Overall, their picks have been pretty good but they still lack experience amongst Indian batters which might haunt them as the tournament goes on.
