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What do Gujarat Titans need to do to make it to the Indian Premier League playoffs this season?
It’s a simple answer.
A win against Sunrisers Hyderabad should be enough for the defending champion to storm into the top four. After a rare blip against Mumbai Indians in its last away fixture, the Titans will be looking to return to winning ways at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Monday.
In their last home game of the season, the Titans would be donning lavender-coloured kits as a cancer awareness initiative and would hope that new jersey changes their fortunes.
With Mumbai breathing down their neck, the Titans need to quickly learn from their mistakes and regroup.
In the last outing, none of their regular performers, barring Rashid Khan, could make an impact and as captain Hardik Pandya rightly put it, the side ‘did not have clear plans’.
Back on its home turf, where the score of 200 or more has been breached three times in the recent past, the Titans will be expecting the star-studded batting line-up to fire.
The openers – Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill – will have to shun the odds and guide the team to a steady start on a batting-friendly surface.
In their previous match, the middle order crumbled and the Titans would not have even crossed the 150-run mark had Rashid not stepped up with a brave show.
Learning from those mistakes, it would be important for Vijay Shankar, David Miller and the ‘finisher’ Rahul Tewatia to find their mojo.
On the bowling front, the seasoned Mohammed Shami will need to move on from the disappointing Mumbai game and conjure up magic with the new ball.
Captain Hardik could not bowl against MI due to a stiff back and it needs to be seen whether he is fit to bowl his quota of four overs in the upcoming fixtures.
In such a situation, the onus will, once again, be on Mohit Sharma to provide breakthroughs in the middle and death overs against the Sunrisers, who are on the cusp of elimination.
SRH snatched a defeat from the jaws of victory against Lucknow Super Giants with a bizarre use of the Impact player and could not defend 80 runs off the last six overs.
Despite Brian Lara being the coach, SRH has botched things up throughout the tournament and the below-par performances by the top-order and the star bowlers have hurt the side.
The team management has also drawn criticisms for poor handling of pacer Umran Malik, who hasn’t played a game since April 29.
It’s a battle of contrasting teams and Titans certainly have the edge. But then, amid an intense battle for a playoff spot, they will need to be cautious.
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