CHENNAI: On Wednesday, when Sunrisers Hyderabad openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma went berserk in the powerplay against Punjab Kings, they were reiterating the prevalent trend. They had raced to 48/0 in three overs before finishing with 79/1 in the powerplay.
This is not the first time they put up a big powerplay score this season; it will not be the last. And it is not just them, almost every team with the exception of Gujarat Titans have this template. Titans, who are loaded heavily at the top and rely on top three to deliver with the bat, have focussed on rattling opponents with the new ball and build on it with the consistent top three they have. Numbers indicate as much. Contrary to the powerplay strike rate of SRH (186.62), RR (185.83) and PBKS (179.94), GT strike at 156.39 in the powerplay with the bat. Not the best, not the worst either, and it helps that they have Shubman Gill and B Sai Sudharsan who are consistent. GT has the second-best average (56.3) in the powerplay after SRH (56.85).
With the ball, meanwhile, GT has the second-best economy in powerplay (8.5) behind Lucknow Super Giants (8). They have bowled more dots that any other team (177) till Wednesday, taking 17 wickets in ten matches at an average of 28.33. Of the 17, 14 powerplay scalps have come at their home in Ahmedabad. And therein, lies the story. Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan explains the reason.
"They are actually relying heavily on their pace department," Pathan — expert on JioHotstar's 'Champions Waali Commentary', a dedicated digital feed in Hindi on CTV featuring former IPL champions who share never heard before tales, said. "They have one guy in KG Rabada who bowls 150kph. They have Mohammed Siraj who can actually move the ball both ways. Obviously when Prasidh (Krishna) plays, he is there. When Ashok Sharma comes in, he has got high pace. So what are they doing? They are putting the grass on the pitch. And some help for the bowlers. If you look at all the bowlers, they are very good Test bowlers. When you have that high quality bowling, you want to take the best out of them. For that, you need something to help them. And Gujarat certainly know that they need to put something on the pitch. So there is grass there, especially with the hot weather coming.
"Now, obviously they are going to do that. For that, they are going to expect that it is not going to be a very high scoring game. And for exactly that reason, they have top three guys who are technically really, really good. Jos Butler comes from England. He understands how to handle the swing and seam conditions. And then Gill, wonderful Test cricketer as well as Sudharsan who is technically very, very sound. So when you have guys like them who are top three guys who can handle the seam movement, who can handle the pace. Their approach is very simple. In bowling, they want something on the pitch. In batting, they don't want to lose wickets early on. Once they don't lose wicket early on, things become easier for them. So as a tactical point of view, Gujarat is going according to their strength. I really think their strength is their bowling. And in that bowling, they are using the home conditions really well."
Pathan felt that it helps them despite the out of form middle-order. "Obviously, we should never forget Rashid Khan. And then Arshad Khan comes in as a left-arm fast bowler whenever they require. Now Jason Holder is coming in as an all-round option which I actually told Ashish Nehra at the start of the season. He said, 'Bhai, kahan mein khilaunga usko'. They wanted to go with Glenn Phillips at the start of the season. But I knew that the kind of form he was in, he should have played from the start. But now he is playing. It's a great value addition as far as the all-round ability is concerned for Titans. So as a team, Gujarat is a team where they are using the conditions I think are one of the best," he explained.
Champions Wali Commentary is a dedicated digital feed in Hindi on CTV featuring former TATA IPL champions who share never heard before tales and an insight into players’ minds as live action plays out.