Gujarat Titans head coach Ashish Nehra recently spoke about the team’s decision to trade out Sherfane Rutherford to Mumbai Indians in an all-cash deal ahead of IPL 2026. Nehra said that he’d have loved to bring Jasprit Bumrah in GT via trade, but the franchise had to settled for an all-cash deal for Rutherford.
This was the second time in IPL history that the Gujarat Titans made an all-cash deal with the Mumbai Indians. Previously, in 2024, GT traded out their skipper Hardik Pandya to MI, and now ahead of IPL 2026, the Titans have traded out Caribbean all-rounder Sherfane Rutherford to MI. Notably, the Titans did not bring in any big names from MI during those trade deals. On both occasions, they accepted a boost in their purse value for the mini-auction.
Ashish Nehra jokes about bringing Jasprit Bumrah into GT
Replying to a query from Sportskeeda at the pre-season press conference in Ahmedabad, Ashish Nehra hilariously said he would love to bring in Jasprit Bumrah from Mumbai Indians, but MI won’t let it happen.
Ashish Nehra said in a light-hearted response: “Humare haath me hota toh Jasprit Bumrah le aate.” (If it was in our hands, we’d bring in Jasprit Bumrah).
It is pertinent to note that Gujarat Titans is the home franchise of India’s star bowler Jasprit Bumrah. However, it seems highly unlikely that Bumrah will ever get to play an IPL game for a team other than Mumbai Indians.
Ashish Nehra’s take on new batting coach Matthew HaydenÂ
During the same press conference, Ashish Nehra was asked if Gujarat Titans will have an ultra aggressive batting approach following the inclusion of Australian legend Matthew Hayden as the new batting coach in IPL 2026. Nehra made it clear that the arrival of a new coach will not have a drastic impact on the team’s batting performance suddenly.
The GT head coach pointed out that his team’s batting department is strong, and Hayden, along with Parthiv Patel and Vikram Solanki are present just to help them get better.
Ashish Nehra said: “Our batting is very good. We had Gary Kirsten first, now we have Hayden. It’s not that Matthew Hayden has come here and we will score 250-260 every game. We also have Parthiv Patel, Vikram Solanki. They are all here to help the batters. But yes, on days when we need to chase 240+, or batting can do that.”Â
Ashish Nehra became the first Indian to win the IPL trophy as a head coach with the Gujarat Titans in 2022. It will be interesting to see if he can guide the Titans to another title in 2026.
Interesting observations coming from Ashish Nehra about a possible Jasprit Bumrah trade although he joked about it. There is no way Mumbai Indians will do that blunder and give Bumrah away in trade. It will be interesting to see how Gujarat goes without Rutherford as he was a solid batter in middle order. Now, the overdependency will be even more on the top 3 to deliver the goods with bat in hand for Gujarat Titans. If that does not happen, GT may well struggle.
There could be more role for Glenn Phillips, Jason Holder and even Tom Banton although Tom is likely to warm the bench in the initial stage of the tournament. So, what kind of game-plan does GT and Ashish Nehra comes up with remains to be seen for all of us. They have areas to work on, but if they click as a unit, they will be hard to stop and if they get on a roll, they will be in playoffs.
Let’s see how they perform as they begin their campaign against PBKS on March 31st in Mullanpur.
Also Read:Â IPL 2026: Shubman Gill Slams Impact Player Rule