IN hindsight, the clues were there when B Sai Sudharsan, somebody who usually batted one drop for Gujarat Titans, partnered with Shubman Gill at the top for the first time. It was against Lucknow Super Giants in the last edition. Wriddhiman Saha, Gill's regular partner, was missing with a back spasm so Sudharsan, who has opened the batting for his state side across formats, was entrusted with the task.
Their partnership of 54 off six overs did not feature a single six but there were a lot of boundaries, some steady innings-building runs, a few dots and no frills strokeplay. A couple of weeks later, this then nascent opening partnership rewrote the record books with a first-wicket stand of 210 against Chennai. Right then, the management had decided that this would be their opening combination in 2025. But because this is a franchise that doesn't get carried away all that often, they went back to the Saha-Gill combination at the top for the reminder of the 2024 season, with Sai Sudharsan slotting at No. 3. At some level, it was a necessity as most of their other batters were finishers.
So, they entered the auction with a clear goal in mind. Bag a proven top-order batter who would act as a bridge between the top-order and the array of finishers at their disposal. Jos Buttler was that batter. Before the start of this season, Gill was cryptic, understandably.
"We haven’t decided at which number he will bat, maybe we will get to know about it tomorrow (first match against Punjab Kings) during the match, but over the course of 8-9 years that he has played IPL, he has played at different numbers and he has performed. So, I don’t see that as a problem for us,” he said. There were a few raised eyebrows when the former Rajasthan Royals opener came out at No. 3.
Would it work? The question had some merit to it. Especially in a league where emphasis has been on power-hitting, maximising the powerplay and having at least two high intent players in the top three, was this smart?
A little over a month into the 18th iteration and it's safe to say it has worked out. And how. A lot of praise for Gujarat has gone to their bowlers and the way they complement each other in different phases. The same can be said of Sai Sudharsan, Buttler and Gill. They all bat long, are deceptively quick scorers even if they are, by definition, anchors. They are also good against both primary bowling types.
In 2024, Titans, after reaching back-to-back finals and winning one of those, grounded to a halt. One of the reasons why they didn't do all that well was they had the lowest powerplay run-rate among all 10 teams. Gill wanted to address that this year. "The plan is to score as many runs as possible, and lose as little wickets as possible," Gill had said at GT's pre-season press conference. "We did not do well in the powerplay or (the phases) after that last season."
While they are still not the fastest scoring team inside the first six overs, what Gill, Sai Sudharsan and Buttler have given this side is greater than the sum of their parts. Their stability and endurance have meant that they start attacking from well before the death overs. They do this by kind of rewriting one of T20's core rules — by putting more of a value on fours rather than sixes. The trio do not feature in the top five six-hitting list but all of them are inside the top five for fours. The risk-taking is fewer when compared to other teams but it's still giving them handsome rewards.
It has afforded the likes of Sherfane Rutherford, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia and M Shahrukh Khan the leeway to pretty much go from ball one. It's not a surprise that all of the comfortably strike at above 150. That same tactic was on display against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Jaipur on Friday. There were two 50-run stands before Sunrisers took the first two wickets (a fifth time for the Titans in ten games).
It's one of those tactics that looks super cute when it comes off but also open to question when it doesn't. However, the 2022 champions do not have an option because their middle-order isn't built to build an innings, it's meant to provide the finishing kick. And it has worked very well so far, putting them inches away from an assured play-off berth.
Can it last the distance? Time will tell.
