Gujarat Titans Thrive On The Shubman Gill-Sai Sudharsan Show!

Opening partnerships matter much at any level  of cricket, more so in the shortest format of the game. The opening pair shows the intent to maximise the potential to score in the first 6-over power play in a Twenty20 game when only two fielders are positioned outside the inner 30-yard circle. In this regard the most consistent pair in the Tata-IPL-18 has been the Gujarat Titans opening pair in India opener Shubman Gill and the promising left hander in Sai Sudharsan. The right-left combination has worked like a well-oiled machine scoring 448 runs in eight matches; this high aggregate works out to 28.90% of the team’s runs scored off the bat. The Gill-Sudharsan pair has put on, so far, two century plus and two half century partnerships, a significant reason for the title winner on debut to notch six wins and approach the home stretch of the league phase with confidence for a place in the playoffs. The new co-owners of the Ahmedabad franchise, Torrent Power, could not have asked for anything more with Gill’s team almost certain to feature in the business end of the league. Sudharsan has scored 417 runs to own the Orange Cap and Gill, 305. The Titans which won the title under the stewardship of Hardik Pandya in 2022 — he is the Mumbai Indians captain having returned to his first IPL team last year — and reached the final in 2023- did not make the playoffs last year, but Gill has made amends this season demonstrating leadership qualities. Playing 14 league matches is tough as it comes; the playoffs will be a different ball game altogether. But Gill and Sudarsan have shown the way for the Titans!