This is Gujarat’s IPL, even if they don’t win
KOLKATA: From doubts whether the newcomers would even make the playoffs, Gujarat Titans have achieved the certainty of playing in the IPL final, in their home base of Ahmedabad. All predictions and analyses since the hammer came down the last time at the mega auction have been proved wrong. On paper, Titans didn’t seem to pose a major threat to most teams. That perception changed after the first few games. With the third-highest successful chase in playoffs, Titans now have seven final-over wins in chases, the most by a team in IPL.
Titans probably didn’t care about predictions then, and don’t now. For each step on that road from improbability to certainty, players grew into their roles and adapted to newer responsibilities. Ever fancied Wriddhiman Saha as the power play enforcer? Or David Miller as an all-season finisher? How about Rahul Tewatia winning a match with sixes off the last two balls? Or Rashid Khan hitting three sixes in the final four balls to win a humdinger?
Mohammed Shami and Rashid were possibly the biggest stars in the side. Lockie Ferguson’s pace could have gone either way. Hardik Pandya too wasn’t assuring four overs after getting injured mid-season. And the top six—Saha, Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade, Pandya, Miller and Tewatia—didn’t exactly set the pulse racing at the start.
Pandya couldn’t help being philosophical. “All the 23 players are different characters, they bring different things to the table,” he said after Titans’ seven-wicket Qualifier 1 win over Rajasthan Royals.
“I was saying to Miller as well, if you have good people around you, you get good things. It’s been that story for us. The kind of people we have, the genuine human beings we have. I see even the players in the dugout are trying and praying for them, to make sure they do well. That is something fantastic and that is why we have reached where we have. It’s all about making sure we respect this game.”
Data and reasoning gives us an entirely different understanding of the game, through numbers-based strength and weakness analysis.
But Titans haven’t committed to that frenzy. Sure, Shami and Rashid won the matchups and lived up to their statistical efficiency. With Gill though, there was an element of risk in picking solidity over strike rate. Titans went with it and Gill hasn’t disappointed. Pandya at No 4 was an experiment that went remarkably well too. Not only has he scored 453 runs at a strike rate of 132.84 (avg 45.30), he has also steered the ship in almost every chase.
There were some straightforward choices too. Saha may now evoke the image of a dependable backup but he is an IPL final centurion with a power play strike rate of 135. The only thing not clear is why Titans didn’t pick him till late into the second day of auctions.
Tewatia too has had a concise and defined role, finishing matches. Bought at ₹9 crore, he has scored 87 runs, the most among Indian batters at 6 and 7 who have faced more than 15 balls in overs 16-20 of chases this season, that too at a strike rate of 235.1.
The thought process is clear: every run counts. “The batting order we’ve had, we’ve had to make sure everyone chips in,” said Pandya. “We appreciate those 10s, 15s, 20s.”
The revelation of this IPL though has been Miller. Between 2016 and 2021, he had scored 655 runs at a strike rate of 118.65 (avg 22.58).
This season, he has already piled up 449 runs, at a strike rate of 141.19 and an average of 64.14. That’s not the entire story. He has been unbeaten in eight out of 15 innings. That shows the intent to be there till the end. Confidence can only stem from unwavering support. “I think opportunity firstly,” Miller told Star Sports when asked what has changed this season. “I have been given a good role and a good extensive run in the team. I felt extremely backed from the onset. My personal game, I am really enjoying my role. I have been playing for many years now; I am just understanding my game a lot better.”
What Pandya had to say about Miller possibly gives the best insight into how a team is not driven merely by data.
“I’m genuinely proud of the way he has lifted his game. A lot of people counted Miller out. But for us, he’s always a match-winner from the time we bought him at the auctions. We always knew what he’s capable of. We always expected him to do that. It was about giving him that importance, love, clarity, what we expect from him. If he fails, it’s okay, it’s just a game.”