Gujarat eyes collective improvement against refreshed RCB

AHMEDABAD: In need of a total reboot, Gujarat Titans will be wary of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s newfound firepower in the middle-order when the two teams clash in the Indian Premier League here on Sunday.

The Titans has eight points from nine matches, and it requires a victory to float above the growing pile. To begin with, the Gujarat side needs its pacers to step up. Its pace bowling unit has been underwhelming throughout this IPL. Mohit Sharma (10 wickets, economy: 10.35), Umesh Yadav (7 wickets, 10.55), Sandeep Warrier (5 wickets, 10.85) have leaked runs aplenty while backup quicks such as Spencer Johnson and Azmatullah Omarzai too have not inspired much confidence.

Its spinners – Rashid Khan (8 wickets), R Sai Kishore and Noor Ahmad (6 wickets each) – have been steady without being spectacular.

The troika’s task will be even harder now considering RCB has found a flicker of hope in its middle-order consisting of Rajat Patidar and Cameron Green.

They can take consolation from the fact that dew will not be a significant factor in a day game, but tackling Patidar, in particular, and Green needs much more than help from conditions.

After a modest beginning to the season, Patidar has shown smidgens of his batting skills, especially against the spinners.

He made forceful fifties while tackling Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy (KKR) and Mayank Markande (SRH) in the last two matches while batting through the middle phase.

While his 23-ball 52 carried RCB nearly home against Kolkata, Patidar’s 20-ball 50 came in a winning cause against Hyderabad.

The right-hander, whose strength is his excellent eye-hand coordination rather than innovation, will be eager to make a similar impact against the GT spinners. Green too was impressive during his 20-ball 37 against the Sunrisers that took RCB past the 200-run mark.

It has also helped RCB reduce its dependency on Dinesh Karthik and Mahipal Lomror down the order for a late thrust, besides freeing opener Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis of the burden of scoring in almost every match.

The GT batters would also like to take a cue from their RCB counterparts.

Sai Sudharsan and skipper Shubman Gill have scored upwards of 300 runs in this IPL, making three combined fifties, but the GT middle-order has not really been able to do a follow-up act.

The likes of David Miller (138 runs), Shahrukh Khan (30), Vijay Shankar (73) and Rahul Tewatia (153) have had fleeting moments but failed to carry on.

The home side will require a heftier contribution from them against the RCB bowlers, who were on the money against SRH while defending 207.

Its frontline pacers Mohammed Siraj (4-0-20-0) and Yash Dayal (3-0-18-1) were exceptional against a heavy-duty batting line-up, keeping it guessing with clever variations even on a smooth HCA Stadium surface.