While the focus was getting quality pacers, GT also bought talented batters for different roles.
Gujarat Titans (GT) retained as many as five players before the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction and still had a relatively big purse to buy a few quality players. While the focus was again on getting quality pace bowlers, GT also bought talented batters for different roles to fill the remaining batting spots.
They made big purchases in the overseas department, such as Jos Buttler and Kagiso Rabada. Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna’s acquisition showed their liking for Indian quality in the bowling department.
Other notable inclusions were South African speedster Gerald Coetzee, West Indies hard-hitter Sherfane Rutherford, and Kiwi star Glenn Phillips. Gujarat Titans also have utility players like Washington Sundar, Sai Kishore, Mahipal Lomror, and Manav Suthar.
For most of his IPL career, Shahrukh Khan has been seen as a lower-order batter who can thwack pace as 86.84% of his IPL innings have come at No.6 or below. However, he showed he had more to offer in patches last season while batting up in the order.
Barring pacers, Shahrukh is also skilled against slow bowlers and can handle them well, so GT should utilise his batting value. He batted only three innings at No.4 in IPL 2024 but scored a fifty and looked good. Fortunately, GT can leave the No.4 position for Shahrukh in this setup since other batters fit perfectly in different spots.
His presence at No.4 will also protect Sai Sudharsan, who can be susceptible to back-of-length deliveries against pacers. With Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan in the lower order, GT don’t need to worry about the firepower in slog overs either. If Shahrukh doesn’t bat at No.4, a few batters will be tempted to play out of position and his batting value won’t be utilised.
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While three overseas slots are sorted, the fourth choice will be between Glenn Phillips and Sherfane Rutherford. Both have the power to take on speedsters, but there’s a lot to separate the two. If Phillips plays, he must bat in the top four because his best comes in at that position.
While he can obviously bat at No.5 or lower, the returns shrink significantly and chances of more failures surge. Meanwhile, Sherfane Rutherford is ideally suited to bat at No.5 or below due to his superior expertise vs pace. Since 2024, he has had a strike rate of 150.54 and a balls-per-boundary ratio of 4.81 against pacers in T20s.
Phillips is better vs spin, but Rutherford has the upper hand against pace-hitting, which means he should get the nod. Shahrukh can do the role of Phillips at No.4 but hasn’t succeeded in death-over hitting in the league. So, GT need a better lower-order batter and Rutherford has a higher chance of succeeding than Phillips in this role.
While this move looks incorrect, Gujarat Titans should seriously consider Sai Kishore over Washington Sundar in the main XI. There are multiple reasons backing this bold call. He is among the best defensive spinners who bring the left-arm angle into play.
Sundar is an off-spinner and while he is accurate, Kishore is a better option in T20s. GT already have Shahrukh, who bowls useful off-spin and can chip in a few overs against favourable matchups. Like his batting, teams haven’t utilised his bowling value in IPL.
Sundar provides batting depth on paper, but he has serious issues against high-pace bowling and can’t hit them for consistent boundaries. He also can’t be promoted in this setup, so his batting value is negligible in the shortest format. GT at least get more variety in the spin attack by playing Sai Kishore, who can do the same job as Sundar on any surface.
Mahipal Lomror is a good option for an impact player but might not fit in the GT batting order. Lomror is a spin-hitter whose best comes in the top four, but his pace game, especially against shorter lengths, is limited. That means he won’t be a good option to bat in the lower middle order.
GT’s top four is set and disrupting their batting positions will force other issues, which is too big a risk to accommodate one batter. Further, they have Sudharsan at No.3 who brings the LHB variety and is sensational against slow bowlers. So, he can do the same role as Lomror and is better against pacers.
However, GT don’t have many batting options in the squad. They might use him at some stage but will be forced to play him out of position. If they take the bold way, GT can demote Shahrukh at No.5 and slot Lomror at No.4 for a few matches and see how this combination works.
While Sundar doesn’t find a place in the main XI, he can always come into the side as an impact player if the opponent has additional LHBs or their batters are prone to spin. Sundar can bowl in various phases, including the powerplay. However, his recent returns in the first six overs have been mediocre.
But he can operate effectively in the middle overs when the field is spread. So, GT can use him as a specialist spinner if they want. He is good enough to bowl effectively against southpaws and keep them under check.
He can be an impact player on slow tracks in a few GT home games. But on flat surfaces, GT should mostly prefer Sai Kishore due to his better defensive skillsets. With batting decks in the league, Sundar’s role won’t be as pronounced.
While Gujarat Titans have Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada as new-ball pacers, they can bring in Arshad Khan as an impact player. GT don’t have a left-arm pacer and Arshad brings that variety to the bowling unit. He can swing the new ball at pace, a threatening weapon against any batter.
There is always some swing available with the new ball in Ahmedabad. Most IPL venues offer some early movement and Arshad can exploit it. He also provides batting value, so GT can slot him in the XI and bring Sai Kishore or a batter as an impact player according to the need.
Rabada can be wayward and GT can need someone to fill a few powerplay overs. That’s where Arshad’s role will increase and he is also improving in other phases. He is good enough to play as a bowler alone, especially in home games.
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