IPL-2023: Gujarat Titans to take on Sunrises Hyderabad in Ahmedabad
In IPL Cricket, today, Gujarat Titans will take on Sunrises Hyderabad at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad at 7:30 PM.
The Sunrisers have seen better days, even in this IPL. Nevertheless, as it stands, after the clash between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore, they sit next to last – a position that is certainly not to change after the second game of Sunday’s double-header involving another lowly side KKR. Such is the predicament of the Sunrisers.
However, Lara isn’t wrong. Three home games, in which the Sunrisers dominated for a large part, they managed to squander at the business end — against Mumbai by 14 runs, Delhi by 7 runs, Kolkata by 5 runs and the latest against LSG two nights ago, by 7 wickets. Four wins would’ve catapulted them to the very top of the table.
Sunrisers have had their issues — an underperforming Harry Brook, barring his hundred, an unstable batting order that keeps changing, and a bowling attack that has blown hot and cold this season. However, the Sunrisers cling on.
They live to fight another day. And even at the fag-end of the tournament, they are in contention for the playoffs, despite just four wins, the most recent of them, a stunning chase of 215 by Abdul Samad to bring them back from the dead. The Sunrisers have the players, and to an extent, the momentum. What they don’t have is consistency. And there’s no better time to peak, than the business end. However, only merit won’t do now.
The Gujarat Titans are in zen mode. After a shocker against KKR early in the tournament, in which they dominated for 39 overs before a freak innings (by no means accidental), their losses have come by 5 runs against Delhi, three wickets (last over run-chase) against Rajasthan, and perhaps the only game in which they didn’t get close, against the Mumbai Indians, by 27 runs.
They have a settled team, with players putting their hand up when no one else does, most evident in the game against Mumbai, where the top order was dismantled before an explosive 79* by Rashid Khan kept them in the game until the 18th over. Given their performance over the course of the tournament, this no-show from the top order can be termed an aberration.
With no obvious weaknesses in their game, negligible injury casualties, and more than one ace up their sleeve, the Gujarat Titans look like a unit that can punch above their weight, and have done so consistently over the course of the tournament. They’re 2023’s defending champions, a notch above the rest and all but have a Q against their name.
