After the Gujarat Titans (GT) defeated the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 18th Indian Premier League (IPL), captain Shubman Gill dismissed worries about the team’s middle order. The Titans used Ahmedabad’s home field and black soil to their advantage, scoring a respectable 196 for 8 before holding Hardik Pandya‘s Mumbai Indians (MI) to 160.
With Sai Sudharsan scoring 68, Gill contributing 38, and wicketkeeper Jos Buttler adding 39, GT’s top-order hitters spearheaded the attack and gave the 2022 champions a solid base. The middle order, however, suffered as Rashid Khan (6), Rahul Tewatia (0), Sherfane Rutherford (18), and Shahrukh Khan (9), were unable to contribute significantly.
Although middle order is a worry, I don’t think so. We were chasing about 250 runs (243), but Rutherford scored about 48 runs (46 in the middle order) in the previous game (against the Punjab Kings), so I believe it was a high-scoring contest even then. It’s a good beginning. After the game, he stated, “I don’t think we are at all concerned about the middle order.”
The right-handed batter acknowledged that a number of things went their way on March 29. The 25-year-old observed that his team’s style of play was better suited to the home conditions, particularly the black soil, than the red soil surface.
“There are a lot of things, including how we began the power play. Reaching nearly 200 runs on this type of track gives us a lot of confidence going into the second innings. I believe that everything in this game went our way because of the manner we bowled in the middle. Every squad, in my opinion, has unique strengths and preferred methods for playing a particular style of cricket. The Gujarat captain remarked, “I believe this type of wicket suits our batting and bowling overall… strength of our team more than on the red soil.”
Not every game should have 240–250 totals: Shubman Gill
“High-scoring games often take the skill out of the contest,” the Indian hitter said. The right-handed batter also said that the opposition was not considered when preparing the black soil pitch.
We simply do not want every game to be between 240 and 250 runs. I believe that the talent of cricket is diminished if there are games with such high scores,” he continued.
Prior to the first match, we made the decision to play on this wicket. We didn’t have enough time to get a red earth wicket ready. It was so decided that we would play this match on a black-soil wicket prior to the first match. The opposition had nothing to do with it,” Gill said.
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