Gujarat Titans are currently in contention for a top-spot finish to the league phase
Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings are in the top and bottom parts of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 table respectively and have multiple things working for and against them.
Gujarat Titans started the season with a narrow loss to Punjab Kings but then won six out of their next seven matches to stay in the top two positions of the table.
CSK, meanwhile, kicked off the campaign with a convincing win over Mumbai Indians but then lost seven of their next eight games to stay rooted to the bottom of the standings.
The contrasting performances this season are reflected by the philosophies of their head coaches – Ashish Nehra and Stephen Fleming – who had faced off multiple times while playing for India and New Zealand in the past.
CSK have chopped and changed their playing XI multiple times this season. They also had a captaincy change with skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad’s elbow injury bringing back MS Dhoni for a third captaincy stint. The five-time champions have also brought in and handed debuts to young batters Ayush Mhatre and Dewald Brevis.
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When asked about how auction mistakes affected, he replied:
“The auction is a very fluid beast. It’s like buying (for) 25 hours and see it come away at the end of it mentally and sometimes physically exhausted. And to be fair, I still think we have got a good squad. We are not far away.”
This is in stark contrast with Nehra who has masterminded GT’s rise to the top with a collective effort from his squad.
“Whenever you think about auction, all teams are more or less the same in terms of strength. My simple approach is that the most important thing is what these teams play – not how it looks on the sheet, but how good they are on the pitch,” Nehra told Star Sports ahead of Monday’s clash against Rajasthan Royals.
“From my little knowledge of cricket, I can’t look at a squad and say ‘Wow, this team is so good or not so good.” If you look at last season, teams that weren’t the best on paper made it to the play-offs. Similar thing happened the year before. This tournament is very tight,” he added.
GT have had multiple players who hit form before or during the tournament. The likes of Sai Sudharsan is in contention for the Orange Cap while R Sai Kishore, Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj are in contention for the Purple Cap. Nehra explained what matters to him while picking his squad.
“The only basis I look at is if my players are in form or not because sometimes two or three of your important players are injured. That makes a difference. The margin of error is very small,” the former left-arm pacer said.
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