The Gujarat Titans were completely outplayed by the Chennai Super Kings in their previous match. It was a contest where the Gujarat Titans struggled to control the game during the middle overs and also failed to find momentum with the bat. If you recall, Gujarat’s victory over Mumbai was also achieved against the run of play in a match where they seemed to be out of contention. This is a bad sign for the Titans. They rely too heavily on Shubman Gill at the top of the order, and if he departs early, the batting lineup doesn’t pose much of a threat. Riddhiman Saha, Sai Sudharsan, and Vijay Shankar are all good players, but it seems only Sudharsan might be able to contribute to a match-winning performance among them. In such a situation, it might be worth promoting David Miller up the order to add more quality to the top order. Azmatullah Omarzai could also guide the batting lineup alongside Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan. The GT bowling lineup boasts exceptional quality with Rashid Khan and Spencer Johnson. We all know what Rashid is capable of, but Johnson is also performing exceptionally well. Around them, the supporting cast of Mohit Sharma, Azmatullah Omarzai, and Sai Kishore is a bit shaky. This Gujarat Titans team is much more beatable than in the previous couple of seasons, and bettors should take this into account when looking at their past records.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad lineup set a record-breaking performance in the previous match. They scored 277 runs, batting first, which is the highest total in IPL history, but eventually won by only a margin of 31 runs. It seems like almost every batsman in their lineup is in good form. Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Aiden Markram, and Heinrich Klaasen – all are in stunning touch. In such a scenario, the pressure will be on Mayank Agarwal, as Rahul Tripathi sits out of the squad, also waiting for an opportunity to open the innings. With Shahbaz Ahmed and Pat Cummins in the SRH lineup, they have great depth. The only question that needs addressing, perhaps, is the bowling. Throughout two matches, SRH has failed to maintain any control over the opposition batsmen. Bhuvneshwar Kumar had a terrible start to IPL 2024, conceding nearly 13 runs per over. Umran Malik bowled only one over in the previous match, indicating that Pat Cummins doesn’t have much trust in him. Perhaps it was the conditions or the match itself, but if Cummins can’t consistently find overs from Umran Malik in every match, he might have to reconsider team composition again. Jasprit Bumrah, Mayank Markande, and Pat Cummins complete the bowling attack. Except for Cummins, who has been brilliant in these two matches so far, every other bowler from SRH has been expensive. This is where SRH will need to find a way to keep things under control, or else their players will be under immense pressure in every match.
