Defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) will be in action against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their second home game of the season at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on April 8. GT have had a brilliant start to the season, they are unbeaten after the opening two games and look like they could successfully defend their title.
GT beat the Delhi Capitals (DC) in their last game at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi after defeating the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Ahmedabad in the opening game of the 2023 IPL season.
A collective bowling performance led by Rashid Khan (3/31) and Alzarri Joseph (2/29) helped GT restrict DC to 162/8. B Sai Sudharsan then played a calm and composed knock of 62(48) under pressure to stitch crucial fifty-run partnerships with Vijay Shankar (29 off 23) and David Miller (31 off 16) to chase down the target comfortably with 11 balls to spare.
GT batting coach and team mentor Gary Kirsten, would be happy with the performance of the batters in the opening two games as they have had notable contributions from multiple batsmen throughout the line-up. Saha, Gill, Sudharsan and Shankar have all contributed well while the returning Miller looked in great nick as he scored 31* at a strike rate of over 190 against DC. Sudharsan is the current top scorer for the team with 84 runs, followed by Gill with 77 runs.
{{/usCountry}}GT batting coach and team mentor Gary Kirsten, would be happy with the performance of the batters in the opening two games as they have had notable contributions from multiple batsmen throughout the line-up. Saha, Gill, Sudharsan and Shankar have all contributed well while the returning Miller looked in great nick as he scored 31* at a strike rate of over 190 against DC. Sudharsan is the current top scorer for the team with 84 runs, followed by Gill with 77 runs.
{{/usCountry}}Skipper Hardik Pandya is yet to make a notable contribution with the bat, but his quality is undoubted as he is sure to play a match-winning knock sooner rather than later. GT would look to continue with the same batsmen as there is no need to make any changes.
The GT bowling attack has been consistent and has worked well as a unit. Both Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan have scalped 5 wickets, while Alzarri Joseph has chipped in with 4 wickets in the two games. Josh Little and Hardik have supported the three aforementioned bowlers well.
Yash Dayal has been expensive in the two games conceding 26 runs in the 2 overs he has bowled. Replacing him in the starting XI with Shivam Mavi or Pradeep Sangwan might be the only change to the GT line-up against KKR.
GT’s predicted XI vs KKR
Openers: Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha.
Top and Middle Order: David Miller, and B Sai Sudharsan.
All-Rounders: Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia.
Pacers: Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph, Josh Little, Shivam Mavi.
Impact Player
Head coach Ashish Nehra would be delighted with the all-round performances in the opening two games and will hope for more of the same in the upcoming games. Shankar was brought on as an Impact Player in the last game and might be utilised in the same capacity again.