Battle of pace aces Its Ferguson vs Umran as Titans face stern Sunrisers test
Mumbai Apr 26 PTI The speed gun radar will be functioning overtime when Lockie Fergusons 150 click thunderbolts meets its match in rising pace sensation Umran Maliks toe-crushers as table toppers Gujarat Titans clash with close-on-heels Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL here on Wednesday The IPL newcomers are currently in the midst of a dream inception year with six wins from seven games at the halfway stage and are placed on top of the table Interestingly the only loss that Titans suffered in its campaign so far was against Sunrisers in an earlier meeting and Hardik Pandya wouldnt mind a sweet revenge for that defeat However the Orange Armys bowling attack especially their four-prong fast bowling unit has been exceptional as one saw when they demolished RCB for 68 in its previous encounter The disconcerting bounce and movement created by Marco Jansen 6 wickets from 5 games is ably complemented by Umrans 10 wickets from 7 games fiery pace T Natarajans 15 from 7 games deceptions off the track and Bhuvneshwar Kumar 9 from 7 games balancing it all with his experience So much so that a lightweight spin department manned by left-arm spinner Jagadeesha Suchith in absence of an injured Washington Sundar till now hasnt been a cause of worry for Kane Williamson and his band of men In fact the rub of the green has gone SRHs way in this particular season as they now have five consecutive wins from five games where they have chased targets after the bowlers intimidated the rival batting unit For Pandya though his bowling unit is no inferior to SRH as Mohammed Shamis artistry 10 from 7 games and Fergusons 9 wickets from 7 games aggression has brought them a lot of success not to forget Rashid Khans 8 wickets from 7 games ability to be more than decent even in a quiet year by his standards However one area where Titans need to lift their game is Powerplay batting as Shubman Gill 207 from 7 games has gone off the boil after the his 96 and Wriddhiman Saha replacing Matthew Wade has been downright mediocre In fact Sahas propensity to waste balls upfront dismal SR of 83 in 2 games in both the matches that he played so far has forced skipper Pandya 295 from 6 games and David Miller 220 from 7 games to up the ante even before they can take some time to play themselves in The chink in Titans armoury is not having a quality keeper-batter for the format as Wade hasnt really had a great time in the first five games that he got and Saha has always been a player who takes time to settle down before he could play some shots There is Afghanistans Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the set-up but in order to play him Titans would have to sacrifice a potent pace bowling option like West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph which wont be the most wise thing to do Abhinav Manohar and Rahul Tewatia would also like to be more consistent in the finishers role rather than being like a flash in the pan for a match or two However Titans bowling attack has the ability to catch the SRH batting unit off-guard considering that it hasnt been tested a lot with young Abhishek Sharma 220 in 7 games and No3 batter Rahul Tripathi 212 from 7 games doing bulk of the scoring in easy chases If Titans could breach through the Sunrisers top-order most of the middle-order batters including the dangerous Nicholas Pooran havent yet got a decent hit in the middle and the rustiness under pressure could keep Titans interested If they manage to upset SRHs rhythm it will take them closer to play-offs in its maiden year in the championship no mean achievement in a competition of this class Teams From Gujarat Titans Hardik Pandya c Abhinav Manohar David Miller Gurkeerat Singh B Sai Sudarshan Shubman Gill Rahul Tewatia Vijay Shankar Matthew Wade Rahmanullah Gurbaz Wriddhiman Saha Alzarri Joseph Darshan Nalkande Dominic Drakes Jayant Yadav Lockie Ferguson Mohammed Shami Noor Ahmad Pradeep Sangwan Rashid Khan Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore Varun Aaron Yash Dayal Sunrisers Hyderabad Kane Williamson Abhishek Sharma Rahul Tripathi Aiden Markram Nicholos Pooran Abdul Samad Priyam Garg Vishnu Vinod Glenn Phillips R Samarth Shashank Singh Romario Shepherd Marco Jansen J Suchith Shreyas Gopal Bhuvneshwar Kumar Sean Abbott Kartik Tyagi Saurabh Tiwary Fazalhaq Farooqi Umran Malik T Natarajan Match starts 730 pm IST PTI KHS KHS APA APA
Mumbai Apr 26 PTI The speed gun radar will be functioning overtime when Lockie Fergusons 150 click thunderbolts meets its match in rising pace sensation Umran Maliks toe-crushers as table toppers Gujarat Titans clash with close-on-heels Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL here on Wednesday The IPL newcomers are currently in the midst of a dream inception year with six wins from seven games at the halfway stage and are placed on top of the table Interestingly the only loss that Titans suffered in its campaign so far was against Sunrisers in an earlier meeting and Hardik Pandya wouldnt mind a sweet revenge for that defeat However the Orange Armys bowling attack especially their four-prong fast bowling unit has been exceptional as one saw when they demolished RCB for 68 in its previous encounter The disconcerting bounce and movement created by Marco Jansen 6 wickets from 5 games is ably complemented by Umrans 10 wickets from 7 games fiery pace T Natarajans 15 from 7 games deceptions off the track and Bhuvneshwar Kumar 9 from 7 games balancing it all with his experience So much so that a lightweight spin department manned by left-arm spinner Jagadeesha Suchith in absence of an injured Washington Sundar till now hasnt been a cause of worry for Kane Williamson and his band of men In fact the rub of the green has gone SRHs way in this particular season as they now have five consecutive wins from five games where they have chased targets after the bowlers intimidated the rival batting unit For Pandya though his bowling unit is no inferior to SRH as Mohammed Shamis artistry 10 from 7 games and Fergusons 9 wickets from 7 games aggression has brought them a lot of success not to forget Rashid Khans 8 wickets from 7 games ability to be more than decent even in a quiet year by his standards However one area where Titans need to lift their game is Powerplay batting as Shubman Gill 207 from 7 games has gone off the boil after the his 96 and Wriddhiman Saha replacing Matthew Wade has been downright mediocre In fact Sahas propensity to waste balls upfront dismal SR of 83 in 2 games in both the matches that he played so far has forced skipper Pandya 295 from 6 games and David Miller 220 from 7 games to up the ante even before they can take some time to play themselves in The chink in Titans armoury is not having a quality keeper-batter for the format as Wade hasnt really had a great time in the first five games that he got and Saha has always been a player who takes time to settle down before he could play some shots There is Afghanistans Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the set-up but in order to play him Titans would have to sacrifice a potent pace bowling option like West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph which wont be the most wise thing to do Abhinav Manohar and Rahul Tewatia would also like to be more consistent in the finishers role rather than being like a flash in the pan for a match or two However Titans bowling attack has the ability to catch the SRH batting unit off-guard considering that it hasnt been tested a lot with young Abhishek Sharma 220 in 7 games and No3 batter Rahul Tripathi 212 from 7 games doing bulk of the scoring in easy chases If Titans could breach through the Sunrisers top-order most of the middle-order batters including the dangerous Nicholas Pooran havent yet got a decent hit in the middle and the rustiness under pressure could keep Titans interested If they manage to upset SRHs rhythm it will take them closer to play-offs in its maiden year in the championship no mean achievement in a competition of this class Teams From Gujarat Titans Hardik Pandya c Abhinav Manohar David Miller Gurkeerat Singh B Sai Sudarshan Shubman Gill Rahul Tewatia Vijay Shankar Matthew Wade Rahmanullah Gurbaz Wriddhiman Saha Alzarri Joseph Darshan Nalkande Dominic Drakes Jayant Yadav Lockie Ferguson Mohammed Shami Noor Ahmad Pradeep Sangwan Rashid Khan Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore Varun Aaron Yash Dayal Sunrisers Hyderabad Kane Williamson Abhishek Sharma Rahul Tripathi Aiden Markram Nicholos Pooran Abdul Samad Priyam Garg Vishnu Vinod Glenn Phillips R Samarth Shashank Singh Romario Shepherd Marco Jansen J Suchith Shreyas Gopal Bhuvneshwar Kumar Sean Abbott Kartik Tyagi Saurabh Tiwary Fazalhaq Farooqi Umran Malik T Natarajan Match starts 730 pm IST PTI KHS KHS APA APA
