Former champions Gujarat Titans finished eighth in the previous edition and after a revamp in the auction they look set to regain their prime in the upcoming IPL 2025 season.
Gujarat Titans had a dream start to their Indian Premier League journey, winning the debut season and reaching the final the following year. The 2024 edition was disappointing for them as they ended up at eighth position with five wins and seven defeats.
Ahead of the IPL 2024, GT had traded Hardik Pandya to Mumbai Indians and that took a major hit to their team combination. Funnily enough, all parties involved in the trade suffered last year. The mega auction offered Titans a chance to start afresh and they did a pretty decent job in reconstructing the squad.
Gujarat Titans retained Rashid Khan, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan and Rahul Tewatia. In the IPL 2025 auction, they acquired the services of Jos Buttler, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips and R Sai Kishore.
From their 25-member squad, we predict four players on whom Gujarat Titans’ IPL 2025 campaign will depend.
The prince of Indian cricket, Shubman Gill has unlocked his T20 potential in the last couple of years. In IPL 2023, he delivered one of the greatest individual seasons, amassing 890 runs at an average of 59.33 and strike rate of 157.80. He registered three centuries and four half centuries in that season, taking GT to the final.
IPL 2024 wasn’t nearly as fruitful but he still managed to average nearly 39 and struck at 147. With several contenders fighting for a spot in India’s T20I side, Gill would want to produce another blockbuster season to cement his spot.
The England white-ball captain is moving to GT after spending seven years at Rajasthan Royals. His role for Titans will be key, being the most experienced batter in the side. Buttler will partner Gill at the top of the order and the pair could be a nightmare for the opponents to get through.
For the last seven years, Buttler has been the best opener in the IPL, with over 3000 runs averaging 41.84 at a strike rate of 147.79. He was one of the only two batters with a combination of over 1000 runs, 40 average and 140 strike rate.
Not many can match Buttler’s ability to switch between attacking and anchoring, making him a valuable asset for Gujarat Titans.
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Rashid Khan has been the best T20 spinner in the world for 7-8 years and on Tuesday, he surpassed Dwayne Bravo’s tally of 631 to become the highest wicket-taker in the format. In IPL, he has 149 wickets from 123 matches at an economy of 6.82.
His career is truly phenomenal but Rashid’s last couple of years were way below his usual standards. The leg-spinner picked 27 wickets from 17 games in IPL 2023 but conceded at 8.23. Last year, he managed only 10 wickets from 12 innings at 8.40 rpo.
Rashid Khan has looked more threatening in this SA20 season, taking 11 scalps from nine innings at an economy of 7.27. Gujarat Titans would hope their superstar spinner carries his good run of form in IPL 2025.
After a seven-year stint with RCB, Mohammed Siraj will have a favourable home base in Ahmedabad, where he could be a menace for opponents. The right-arm pacer is one of the best exponents of new ball bowling and half of the matches at Ahmedabad could help him immensely.
Siraj has been inconsistent in IPL but that could largely be put down to having to lead a poor bowling line-up and dreadful home conditions for bowlers. Ahmedabad is a pretty good venue for pacers and with Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada and Prasidh Krishna in the line-up, Siraj will have much better partners to work with in IPL 2025.
