IPL 2023: Upper order & bowlers shined for Gujarat Titans as they missed title glory by a whisker

IPL 2023: Upper order & bowlers shined for Gujarat Titans as they missed title glory by a whisker. Gujarat Titans made to back-to-back finals in IPL.

Gujarat Titans lost to CSK in IPL 2023 final (Images: ©IPL/Twitter)

Gujarat Titans came very close to defending their title in IPL 2023 but it was undone by the two-ball heroics from Ravindra Jadeja of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the final. Gujarat ticked most of the boxes, but they were denied the title by a whisker. Nevertheless, they can hold their heads held high for the way they went about defending their title.

Here’s a look at how the season panned out for Gujarat Titans.

Upper order dominated run-scoring

Opener Shubman Gill was in the form of his life during the season, cracking three tons in 4 games. He peaked during the business end of the tournament where he made scores of 101, 104*, 42, 129 and 39 in his last 5 games of the tournament, but his side still ended up as the losing finalists. Nevertheless, the tournament would be known for Gill’s batting show where he decimated bowling in his style - punching, slapping, driving, lofting, cutting, slogging, sweeping and straight driving for boundaries and sixes. He bettered his last season’s performance twice more and just ended slightly less than 900 runs in a season.

Gill’s show in the last two seasons

IPL	Matches	Runs	Ave	S/R	50s/100s
IPL 2023	17	890	59.33	157.80	4/3
IPL 2022	16	483	34.50	132.33	4/0

Wriddhiman Saha was not consistent, but played quite a few impact innings, and also lent good support to his opening partner Gill. His best knock came in the final when he made a valuable 54 runs to provide a platform for a big score. Besides, Saha’s keeping was accurate and clean. Whoever said Saha was past his prime can eat their words now.

Read More: IPL 2023, GT vs CSK, Final: Jadeja's last-ball strike fetches fifth IPL title for CSK in nail-biter

Shubman Gill scored three centuries in IPL 2023 (Images: ©IPL/Twitter)

Saha’s performance in the last two seasons

IPL	Matches	Runs	Ave	S/R	50s/100s
IPL 2023	17	371	23.19	129.27	2/0
IPL 2022	16	317	31.70	122.39	3/0

No.3 was a game of musical chairs as the designated batter for this position Kane Williamson was out of the tournament in the first game itself when he injured his knee while attempting a catch at the boundary line. The responsibility was then shared among Dasun Shanaka, Vijay Shankar, Hardik Pandya and Sai Sudharsan. But it was Sai who made the position his own, and played a blinder of a knock – 47-ball 96 – at No.3 in the final when he destroyed the CSK bowling. That knock showed the great skills and talent of Sudharsan as he toyed with the bowling attack and field placements. He missed out on a ton, but those 96 runs were worth their weight in gold, but alas it went in vain. Also, compared to the previous season, Sai showed great improvement and produced much better performances in IPL 2023.

IPL	Matches	Runs	Ave	S/R	50s/100s
IPL 2023	8	362	51.71	141.41	3/0
IPL 2022	5	145	36.25	127.19	1/0

Read More: IPL 2023: Shubman Gill rises to highest echelons in shortest format

Middle-order fails to shine

Vijay Shankar was used as a floater and as per the needs of the game. He did turn up a few brilliant performances with the bat, with a good strike rate, but the upper order show limited his chances of scoring more runs. However, surprisingly, he was not called on to bowl in this season at all.

Shankar’s performance in IPL 2023

IPL	Matches	Runs	Ave	S/R	50s/100s
IPL 2023	14	301	37.63	160.11	3/0
IPL 2022	4	19	4.75	54.29	0/0

David Miller, Rahul Tewatia and Hardik Pandya had a below-par season. It could be attributed to fewer opportunities to bat more overs as the upper order feasted on the opposition’s bowling and hogged most of the strike. But nevertheless, the trio could have done better than what the numbers show.

But the true picture is that there were no impact innings from Miller, and it was a big disappointment. Tewatia just got 57 balls to play the whole season, and whenever he got the opportunity, he had to smash balls from the first delivery. And except for a cameo against DC where he smashed three straight sixes against Anrich Nortje, his was easily a blink-and-miss campaign. Captain Pandya had a forgettable season, with both bat and ball. His struggles to move up a gear and score the big hits cost Gujarat Titans the match against DC which they lost by 5 runs despite Pandya being unbeaten on 59 not out. The middle order woes were compensated by the big performances from the upper order.

The stats below show the dip in aggregate runs of the three players in IPL 2023 compared to IPL 2022. However, their strike rate is close to the same, implying they scored briskly in the limited opportunities they received but failed to put up a big score to have impact innings.

Read More: IPL 2023, CSK vs GT, Qualifier 1: Gaikwad & bowlers take CSK to tenth IPL Final

Miller couldn't leave impact as a batter this season (Images: ©IPL/Twitter)

David Miller past two season performance

IPL	Matches	Runs	Ave	S/R	50s/100s
IPL 2023	16	259	32.38	145.51	0/0
IPL 2022	16	481	68.71	142.23	2/0

Rahul Tewatia past two season performance

IPL	Matches	Runs	Ave	S/R	50s/100s
IPL 2023	17	87	21.75	152.63	0/0
IPL 2022	16	217	31.00	147.61	0/0

Hardik Pandya past two season performance

IPL	Matches	Runs	Ave	S/R	50s/100s
IPL 2023	16	346	31.45	136.76	2/0
IPL 2022	15	487	44.27	131.37	4/0

Read More: IPL 2023, GT vs MI, Qualifier 2: Gill's stunning ton take Gujarat to 2nd straight IPL final

Mohammed Shami won Purple cap for 28 wickets (Images ©IPL/Twitter)

Top bowling performances from Gujarat

If it was the upper order of Gujarat that grabbed headlines, then their bowling too was much in demand. It was eventually their pace and spin bowling that helped Gujarat force wins and emerge as the No.1 team in the league phase. The top three wicket-takers in IPL 2023 were from Gujarat. Mohammed Shami showed Test-style bowling too can be handy in T20s, emerging as the highest wicket-taker in IPL 2023 with 28 wickets.

Mohit Sharma, who was forgotten and discarded, was the biggest comeback story of the season, bagging the joint second-highest wickets in the season, with 27 wickets. His hard lengths and slower balls were difficult to score off. Despite being hit for winning runs in the IPL 2023 final by Ravindra Jadeja, Mohit can hold his head high for bowling in the death overs brilliantly throughout the season.

Rashid Khan, the champion leg-spinner, showed once again he was the captain’s go-to man at any stage of the game. He also bagged 27 wickets.

However, the biggest find of the season for Gujarat was Afghanistan left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad as he bagged 16 wickets in 13 matches. He formed a good spin combo with his national teammate Rashid. Ahmad reserved his best for the final, taking 2/17 in 3 overs, while all other bowlers went for over 10 runs per over.

Players	Matches	Wickets	Average	BBI
Mohammed Shami	17	28	18.64	4/11
Mohit Sharma	14	27	13.37	5/10
Rashid Khan	17	27	20.44	4/30
Noor Ahmad	13	16	23.06	3/37

Read More: IPL 2023, RCB vs GT: Gill's ton overpowers Kohli's century; MI qualify, title remain elusive for RCB

Hardik Pandya led GT to back-to-back IPL Finals (Images ©IPL/Twitter)

Hardik’s captaincy was the highlight

Hardik Pandya may not have produced big numbers in terms of runs or wickets in IPL 2023, but his captaincy was bang-on. He kept the environment relaxed in the dressing room, letting players realise their full potential in the bigger cause of the team. He was ably supported by the team management and coaches comprising Ashish Nehra and Gary Kirsten who kept things simple and made the players play to their full potential.

It can be claimed Pandya is following MS Dhoni’s style of captaincy, but he is his own captain, and growing with the job. Pandya summed up his captaincy style when he was quoted as saying, “In my captaincy, I look to keep it simple and back my gut. I have a simple rule - If I go down, I will go down on my terms.”

The way ahead for Gujarat Titans

Gujarat Titans have been able to create an aura around themselves as being in finals twice in two appearances needs a lot of hard work and a quality work ethic. They are also grooming young players such as Sudharsan who can go on to serve Indian cricket. They just have to keep up the good work.

Read More: IPL 2023, GT vs SRH: Gill's maiden ton, Shami's 4-fer secure top-two finish for Gujarat