Shubman Gill led Gujarat Titans (GT) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) are set to lock horns at the colossal Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in match No. 12 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 on Sunday, March 31. Both teams have two points from as many games in the competition thus far. Last year’s runner-up Gujarat Titans faced Mumbai Indians last week at home and the new captain Shubman Gill led his side to a nerve-wracking six-run win against the former five-time champions.
On the back of Sai Sudarshan’s 39-ball 45, the Titans managed 168/6 on a tricky surface before restricting Mumbai to 162/9 in their 20 overs.
Previous performances of Gujarat Titans and SunRisers Hyderabad
Shubman Gill led his side to a nerve-wracking six-run win against the former five-time champions Mumbai Indians . On the back of Sai Sudarshan’s 39-ball 45, the Titans managed 168/6 on a tricky surface before restricting Mumbai to 162/9 in their 20 overs. After this win, the Titans traveled to the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk to face the Chennai Super Kings in a replay of last year’s final.
The Men in Yellow amassed 206/6 in their 20 overs as the Gujarat bowlers were taken to the cleaners. In reply, the visitors could only manage 143/8, losing the clash by 63 runs, the biggest defeat in terms of runs so far in IPL 2024.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, on the other hand, started with an agonizing four-run defeat at the Eden Gardens against Kolkata Knight Riders. Chasing a huge target of 209, Heinrich Klaasen led the charge for the Orange Army with a destructive half-century. With six runs required off the final four balls and five wickets in hand, it seemed that Hyderabad will win in a canter. However, Harshit Rana held his nerves and gave the Knight Riders a thrilling win.
The Sunrisers managed to bounce back emphatically in their next encounter on their home ground – Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. They registered the highest-ever team total in IPL history as they posted a mind-boggling 277/3 after being asked to bat first. Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, and Klaasen scored whirlwind half-centuries to take Sunrisers to a position of strength. Mumbai batted well and got to 246/5 in their 20 overs, but still lost the clash by 31 runs.
Sunrisers will be high on confidence after their stupendous batting performance against Mumbai. They have some exciting foreigners in their lineup and if the domestic players can step up, they could be a tough team to beat. Meanwhile, Gujarat will hope for a solid performance from their captain Shubman Gill . The likes of David Miller and Vijay Shankar will also have to step up.
GT vs SRH : Head-to-Head
2023 – GT won by 34 runs
2022 – SRH won by 8 wickets
2022 – GT won by 5 wickets
GT vs SRH : Team news and impact player strategy with Shubman Gill in highlight
Gujarat Titans
The Titans are usually predictable with their impact substitutions, so expect fast bowler Mohit Sharma and left-hand batter Sai Sudarshan to swap places. Matthew Wade is also available after missing the first two games playing the Sheffield Shield final. Shahrukh Khan or Abhinav Manohar could be tempting options in the middle order. Shubman Gill as skipper needs to step up to
Sunrisers Hyderabad
After excelling in their season opener, T Natarajan missed Sunrisers’ second game with an unspecified niggle and his availability is unknown. Jaydev Unadkat, his replacement against Mumbai Indians, impressed with his change-ups and could keep his place in the XI. Wanindu Hasaranga has also not yet arrived in India.
As for Impact Player options, Sunrisers could start with medium-pacer Nitish Reddy or fast bowler Umran Malik if bowling first, with Travis Head replacing them in the second innings. Washington Sundar could also be a realistic option against left-hand heavy Titans.
Narendra Modi Stadium Pitch Report
Ahmedabad usually offers a true batting surface with enough on offer to keep pacers and spinners interested. Spinners can also use the long square boundaries to good effect. The average first-innings winning score here since 2021 in the IPL is 188. In the last outing at the venue, the Titans defended 168 successfully. Expect a hot afternoon with a peak of 35 degrees during toss time.
This is going to be just the second match played at the enormous Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in this year’s IPL. In the first match between Gujarat and Mumbai, run-scoring wasn’t easy as the ball got softer. The short balls stuck onto the surface and the batters struggled to time their shots. Dew factor also came into play in the second innings but the Titans’ bowlers managed it well. However, dew will have no role to play on Sunday as it is an afternoon clash. Opting to bowl first could be a wise strategy as the pitch could be slow to start with.
Form and Fitness of players.
A plethora of subplots from outside the cricket field may have helped Gujarat Titans lift themselves to a come-from-behind win against Mumbai Indians in their season opener, but a 63-run defeat away against Chennai Super Kings begs the question: are the Titans of 2024 championship material?
David Miller, for example, has crossed 30 only three times in 15 innings this year and averages 29. His strike rate of 119 this year is also his worst in 13 years, a steep drop from 2023 (135.2) and 2022 (147.2).
Another barometer of the Titans’ performance is Rashid Khan. In their wins – they’ve had 12 of those since 2023 – he comes away with an economy rate of 7.35. But in their losses – seven in the same period – Rashid’s economy rate skyrockets to 10.03. It shows that when he struggles, they struggle too. This used to be rare but since last year’s tournament, he has leaked nine runs an over roughly once every three matches (6 out of 19; 5 of those 6 were losses)
And that’s where the challenge lies as a rampaging Sunrisers Hyderabad arrive fresh off a performance that rewrote IPL record books. Travis Head has his own love story with Ahmedabad since the ODI World Cup final, Abhishek Sharma has carried his form from the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy well and Heinrich Klaasen is the only man to hit 50 T20 sixes this year. With the Narendra Modi Stadium one of the country’s best surfaces for batters, the Titans will need someone to fill the shoes of Mohammed Shami at both ends of their innings.
The Titans, though, can hit back. Barring Pat Cummins, the Sunrisers pacers have gone at 11.93 runs per over in IPL 2024 and it is an area the hosts can exploit, especially their captain Shubman Gill. Ahmedabad is Shubman Gill’s favorite venue – 700 runs in 13 innings at an average of nearly 64 and a strike-rate of almost 160 – and with only 37 runs in two innings this season, he will be itching for a sizeable contribution.
In the spotlight
In two innings, Vijay Shankar has scored 18 runs in 17 balls. He has not bowled either. Against a high-scoring side like Sunrisers, the Titans could be tempted to play Shahrukh Khan instead to add power to the middle order, especially since he follows a consolidator like Sudarshan at No. 3. Shankar, though, enjoys facing Bhuvneshwar Kumar (16 off 5, strike rate 320) and Jaydev Unadkat (15 off 7, strike rate 214) in T20 cricket.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar is yet to take a wicket in his two IPL 2024 outings and has conceded 104 runs in eight overs. Against both Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians, Bhuvneshwar made promising starts to his spell but ended up leaking big runs in the death overs. As the senior-most bowler in a franchise where he has played since 2014, Bhuvneshwar needs to either find wickets or get his runs down. Ideally, he’d want to do both.
Vital Stats that matter
Since the start of IPL 2023, the team batting first has won six of the ten IPL games played in Ahmedabad.
GT vs SRH : Predicted XIs
Gujarat Titans (GT):
Wriddhiman Saha (wk.), Shubman Gill (c), Sai Sudarshan, Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Umesh Yadav, Spencer Johnson, R Sai Kishore
Impact Player: Mohit Sharma
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH):
Mayank Agarwal, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wk.), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik
Impact Player: Jaydev Unadkat
Fantasy Predicted XI
Heinrich Klaasen (capt and wk.), Travis Head (vc) , David Miller, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudarshan, Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Mohit Sharma, Pat Cummins
Probable Best Players of the Match
Probable Best Batter:
Heinrich Klaasen is in the form of his life. He has been decimating the best bowlers around the world with utmost ease and seems to look invincible at times. He has gotten off to a flying start in IPL 2024, having smashed two half-centuries in the first couple of games. In the first encounter against the Knight Riders, he scored 63 off just 29 balls, hitting eight sixes. The wicketkeeper-batter followed it up with an unbeaten 34-ball 80 against Mumbai in a knock that comprised four fours and seven sixes. Gujarat will want to see the back of him very quickly before he gets into his zone.
Probable Best Bowler:
Rashid Khan will be the bowler to watch out for against the Sunrisers. The talismanic Afghanistan spinner will be Shubman’s best bet against the in-form SRH batting lineup. Rashid conceded 49 runs and picked up two wickets against Chennai. However, he has been on the T20 circuit for a long time to know that bowlers can have their off days. He also knows how to bounce back. It will be interesting to see how his four overs are used by the Titans.
GT vs SRH Match Prediction
Scenario 1
Gujarat Titans win the toss and bowl
Power Play score – 50-60
First Innings Score – 180-190
Sunrisers Hyderabad win the match
Scenario 2
Sunrisers Hyderabad win the toss and bowl
Power Play score – 45-55
First Innings Score – 160-170
Sunrisers Hyderabad win the match.