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From not being taken seriously after their subdued show at the auction table to starting their Indian Premier League journey with eight wins in the first nine games, Gujarat Titans have left their opponents breaking their heads to figure out what makes this new side tick, again and again.
It has to be more than the beginner’s luck. On paper, their bowling unit looks strong and the batters were supposed to be the weak link. But the template adopted by the Hardik Pandya-led side makes for a fascinating study.
Chief coach Ashish Nehra and director of cricket Vikram Solanki were so low key at the mega auction in February that those on the other tables walked away wondering what were the Titans were up to. It has turned out that they were mainly hunting for finishers. They beat CSK in an intense bidding war for Rahul Tewatia to get him for ₹9 crore and outbid Rajasthan Royals to get David Miller for ₹3 crore. And it’s the finishers who have provided them the winning touch.
The two left-handers have made it a routine to pull the team through tough situations and nail the wins.
At the Brabourne Stadium on Saturday evening, Tewatia and Miller again produced nerveless performances to shut out RCB. They were under pressure with captain Hardik Pandya dismissed cheaply in the 11th over. But the pair didn’t panic. With an unbroken 79-run partnership off 40 balls, they chased down the total of 170 with six wickets with three balls to spare. Tewatia scored an unbeaten 43 off 25 balls to win the Player-of-the-Match award and Miller hit 39 not out off 24 balls.
They have made it a habit. In the previous match, Tewatia hit 40* off 21 balls to help Titans chase down 195 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. In their tournament opener, the Haryana cricketer smashed 40* off 24 balls to beat fellow newcomers Lucknow Super Giants.
In his best-ever season, South Africa’s Miller has also contributed in every other game, winning three off his own blade. Apart from a sensational 51-ball 91 not out against Chennai Super Kings, there was an unbeaten 31 off 14 balls against Rajasthan Royals and a 21-ball 30 versus LSG.
In Rashid Khan, when he is not tying down batsmen or taking wickets, Titans have another sharp finisher who has made a winning contribution in two games with his unorthodox hitting. Against CSK at Pune, he scored a 21-ball 40 and combined with Miller to help the side recover from 87/5 after a top-order collapse and chase down 170. In the previous match against SRH, he smashed a 11-ball 31 not out with four sixes to play his part in a chase of 195.
STREET-FIGHTER TEWATIA
Titans think-tank had done their homework on the Haryana player. Tewatia is a unique product of subcontinent cricket—street smart and innovative. With an uncanny ability to read the situation, he dismantles the bowlers by playing with their mind and anticipating what’s coming next. His confidence borders on arrogance. Reputations don’t matter for this cheeky cricketer. He treats even top international bowlers with disdain. On Saturday, Australia speedster Josh Hazlewood, who has built a reputation of choking the best of strokeplayers, was at the receiving end.
He was brought on to bowl the 18th over with the game on the line. Tewatia smashed the third ball for six over fine-leg before driving through off for four. With Miller finishing with a four, the duo took 17 off the over. Fittingly, Tewatia finished the game with a lofted four off RCB’s star bowler.
Nothing better exemplified his anticipation than his charge in the last over against Punjab Kings. With 12 runs needed off the last two balls, Tewatia finished the match with two consecutive sixes. He got PBKS pacer Odean Smith by anticipating where he would bowl. He was ready for the full, outside the off-stump, line and got into position to hit those two sixes.
After Saturday’s heroics, Tewatia revealed his gameplan, how he targets the bowlers. “I can’t say that I stay cool during chases, but a lot of things will be going beneath, how to take it forward, which bowler to target and which areas to hit. I then try and follow the plans. In the death overs, you’d need to play some pre-planned shots, but I certainly look at the field and then look at the ball before hitting.
“So, if the ball is outside off, I will look to go over the off-side, if it’s on the stumps, I play the leg-side shots. I have improved my off-side game during this tournament. The bowlers planned to keep fielders on the off-side, so I knew I could hit the gaps, get the boundaries, I have opened up both sides of the ground now. You have to finish games, never mind the target. The pitches have been really good; you can chase even 60 runs off the final five overs. I’ve spent a lot of time with him (Miller); we were together at PBKS for a year, with RR for a couple of years, so we have good bonding. We talk about finishing games even in the nets. I have the belief that I can finish games, as long as I stay in the middle.”
SUPER CHASERS
Titans have won two chases off the last ball. Only CSK in 2012 have achieved more last-ball wins in an edition—three. Saturday’s win over RCB was Titans’ fifth run chase in the last over, equalling the IPL record for a season held by CSK (2018) and RR (2019). Starting with the five-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants with two balls remaining, they beat Punjab Kings on the final ball, CSK by three wickets with one ball left and Sunrisers Hyderabad off the last ball.
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