Gujarat Titans after two successful seasons in the Indian Premier League are not having a season to remember this year. Under the captaincy of Shubman Gill Gujarat Titans are currently placed 7th in the points table with four wins out of nine games this season. Gujarat Titans have found it difficult to find a winning combination this season.
Gujarat Titans have won only two matches out of their last six encounters. In their recent match against Delhi Captals, the Shubman Gill led side suffered a narrow defeat while chasing a mammoth total of 225 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. After being 152-6 in sixteeen overs, Rashid Khan and Sai Kishore bought their franchise back in the game by hitting long balls.
Eighteen runs were required in the last over Rashid Khan was only able to hit 14 runs and Gujarat Titans lost by 4 runs. Gujarat Titans almost won the match with David Miller’s blistering knock, Rashid’s late firepower and Sai Kishore’s two sixes in the 19th over but it wasn’t to be. Delhi Capitals won the game and climbed up to 6th in the points table.
Tactical Blunder by Gujarat Titans
Speaking in a video on YouTube, Aakash Chopra mentioned that it was a tactical blunder that cost Gujarat Titans the game this time round. He said :
“There was a tactical blooper. It was a faux pas. It wasn’t understandable how you could do that. You brought Sai Kishore in the 19th over. The first over by a left-arm spinner was the 19th over of the innings. Tristan Stubbs and Rishabh Pant were in front of him. We thought Rishabh would hit but Tristan destroyed and went,”
“It was a very expensive over and you were thinking how it happened. Sandeep Warrier had picked up three wickets and his fourth over was left. The calculation could have been better. Ashish Nehra doesn’t miss a beat. He understands the game very well. How did that mistake happen?” the former India opener added.
He claimed that Sandeep Warrier would have bowled the last over instead of Sai Kishore. Also Gujarat Titans could have bought Sai Kishore into the game much earlier than they did against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Gujarat Titan’s skipper isn’t to be blamed- Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra on Gujarat Titan’s tactical mistake :
“I won’t blame Shubman Gill at all because it might not be his decision. It might be a collective decision by the team. So I won’t be too harsh on Shubman. However, Ashish Nehra making such a mistake – not fair, it didn’t work out,” he reasoned
He also ponted out the fact that Gujarat Titans bowled Omarzai for four consecutive overs at the start, he felt that was unnecessary. He said :
“They bowled Azmatullah Omarzai four consecutive overs at the start. What was happening? It wasn’t understandable because the more pace you bowl to Jake Fraser-McGurk, the faster he sends them far. He got out to the first slower one from Sandeep Warrier but no one was bowling slower ones,” Chopra explained.
On the other side Aakash Chopra praised Delhi Capitals for a brilliant performance with the bat against GT. He mentioned Axar Patel and Rishabh Pant bailed out Delhi Capitals with their brilliant performances with the bat when it mattered the most.
Also Read: IPL 2024: Shubman Gill Gives His Thoughts Over His IPL Captaincy And T20 World Cup