The Gujarat Titans shall be featuring in the IPL for the first time in this upcoming season. With lots of hopes and aspirations, the team management and board made their way into the auctions making every possible effort to build up a good squad to give the other teams a tough fight for the trophy.
The IPL which to everyone’s knowledge is the toughest T20 league in the world isn’t an easy tournament to be conquered that too for a franchise that is making its debut appearance in the league. Be it batting, bowling or fielding, the team has to be at the peak of their performance in all these aspects.
One such important aspect is having a solid opening pair which shall set the stage on fire with blistering starts to the innings for their side. The Titans owing to their good execution of plans in the auction have managed to bring in quite a good number of players who can fill in the opening slots in their batting lineup.
It definitely will be an interesting thing to watch as to how the team management entrusts the opening responsibilities to its players and thereby build up their batting order to feature in the season.
Given below are three of the most possible opening pairs that the Gujarat Titans shall perhaps use in the IPL 2022:-
1. Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha
The first possible opening options to go with for Gujarat shall be Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha. Both these batsmen have opened the batting for their previous franchises in the IPL and managed to provide a significant amount of contribution while batting in the particular position.
Shubman Gill who has been a part of Kolkata prior to this season had been used as the first choice opener ahead of any other player in the squad. Multiple crucial knocks while opening the innings made him highly important for his side. His unique ability to steer the batting with singles and doubles and simultaneously change gears when needed makes him indispensable.
Meanwhile, his partner Wriddhiman Saha who had been a part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the previous few seasons also had quite cemented his position in the opening spot with fairly good performances for his side. He may very well play the anchor role in the game and hold one end tightly for the first few overs thereby allowing the batsman at another end to go big.
Thus the above-mentioned duo can well be a good choice to open the batting for Gujarat in this IPL season.
Shubman Gill (IPL Stats):-
Matches – 58, Runs – 1417, Average – 31.5, Strike Rate – 123.0
Wriddhiman Saha (IPL Stats):-
Matches – 133, Runs – 2110, Average – 24.5, Strike Rate – 128.7
2. Shubman Gill and Vijay Shankar
An interesting option for the Gujarat Titans is to ask Vijay Shankar to open the batting with Shubman Gill. The ruse might very well turn out to work as Shankar has been promoted up the order several times by the teams he’s played in the earlier seasons of IPL for.
His ability to adapt to several batting circumstances might be handy to his side as they use him as an opener against the odds. This move might definitely be a surprise to the opponents but at the same time might provide Gujarat with desired results considering the earlier results that have been achieved out of Shankar’s promotion in the batting order.
The Gill-Shankar duo might thus not be that bad an opening pair to go with for the Gujarat Titans in this IPL season.
Vijay Shankar (IPL Stats):-
Matches – 47, Runs – 712, Average – 26.4, Strike Rate – 126.2
3. Shubman Gill and Mathew Wade
Another out of the box opening combination that the Titans may adhere to is that of Shubman Gill and Mathew Wade. Pulling a middle-order batsman up the order though might sound a bit anomalous might make some sense considering the fact that it would have the ability to play big scoring strokes right from the first ball.
The hard-hitting Australian who showed glimpses of his ability to take any opposition bowler to the cleaners in the T20 World Cup last year might very well be able to fulfil the new responsibility of an opener that shall possibly be entrusted upon him by the team management.
His high strike rate combined with the cautious stroke play of Shubman Gill may provide their side with a pretty good looking possible opening combination for this IPL season.
Mathew Wade (T20 Stats):-
Matches – 174, Runs – 3402, Average – 37.1, Strike Rate – 136.
Our Prediction: Although each of the above-mentioned opening combinations shall be equally available to the Gujarat Titans in this IPL season, the most suitable and feasible of them all in our opinion shall be the one consisting of Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha.
The sudden news of Jason Roy pulling out his name from the IPL 2022 due to the bubble fatigue was a shock to the Gujarat Titans for sure.
The fact the Titans shall no longer have the services of Roy who was certainly going to be a possible option to open the batting was a big loss to the team. In such circumstances, the team management would definitely like to have the opening slot filled by a player who has earlier had several experiences of opening the batting for his side in similar situations.
Such a decision shall most importantly help the batting lineup remain stable throughout the season and prevent any major changes in the batting order due to the change in the role of a random middle-order batsman by asking him to open the batting and this brings him out of his comfort zone.
Both Gill and Saha who’ve been given ample opportunities to open the batting in the past shall very suitably be fulfilling the responsibilities of opening the batting for this new franchise and thereby brightening their chance to lift the trophy in their maiden IPL season.
Also Read:- IPL 2022: Top 3 Possible Opening Partnerships for Kolkata Knight Riders
