15 May,2023 08:53 AM IST | Ahmedabad | Sunil K Vaidya
GT’s Rashid Khan (fourth from left) celebrates a MI wicket with teammates at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday. Pic/BCCI; IPL
A lot will depend on how well Hardik Pandya's back holds up on Monday evening for Gujarat Titans to get back to their winning ways and stay at pole position in the 10-team league table.
A win over Sunrisers Hyderabad can seal their place in the Playoffs at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
With his back problem recurring last Friday, Gujarat decided not to take the risk in having Hardik bowl against the Mumbai Indians. That decision required a slight rejig in the bowling order, but Mohit Sharma sharing the new ball with Mohammed Shami didn't really work for them.
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Gujarat's assistant coach Ashish Kapoor had revealed after the match against Mumbai that they had to change their plans a bit because just before the start of the match, Hardik pulled his back. "It was a bit stiff, and he couldn't bowl," Kapoor said.
Except Rashid Khan, the rest of the Titans bowlers had an off day as Suryakumar Yadav took them to the cleaners to provide MI an imposing total.
Rashid also turned it on for Titans in their defeat by playing a stunning innings of 79 off 32 balls, hitting 10 sixes. "We were far from winning this game, but because of Rashid, we ensured there wasn't a big dent to our NRR," Hardik pointed out.
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The defeat to Mumbai was their fourth, but they need only one win to seal a place in the four-team Playoffs to decide the finalists and a healthy NRR could prove to be a deciding factor in taking a place among the top two. The Titans may fancy their chances at home in today's game against ninth-placed Sunrisers.
Hypothetically, Hyderabad may see a thin chance of a place in the Playoffs and bottom-of-the-table Delhi's success against the Titans on May 2 could inspire them to pull off an upset win.
Three out of four defeats for Gujarat have been home losses, so they will be a bit wary.Over to Motera.
