IPL 2023: Gujarat Titans retain title-winning core team

GANDHINAGAR: The defending Indian Premier League (IPL) champions have managed to retain most of the players that helped it clinch the title in their maiden season.

However, it has let go of some star players like England opener Jason Roy, New Zealand speedster Lockie Ferguson and young Afghanistan batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz.

Jason suffered a form slump during the 'Hundred' tournament. He was ignored by England for the ICC T20 World Cup, with the likes of Alex Hales and Phil Salt replacing him.

In 11 T20I matches for England this year, he has scored only 206 runs at an average of 18.72, at a strike rate of 104.04. Only one half-century has come out of his bat in these matches.

In the last season, Roy was picked up for Rs 2 crore, which was his base price, by GT. But he later opted out of the tournament. Dominic Drakes, Gurkeerat Singh and Indian pace veteran Varun Aaron are some other players released by GT. They had also traded Gurbaz to KKR earlier.

Titans has managed to retain its core players like skipper Hardik Pandya, Shubman Gill, David Miller, Matthew Wade, Mohammad Shami and Rashid Khan. Exciting young talent like Sai Kishore, Sai Sudarshan, Abhinav Manohar and Yash Dayal is retained by GT, showing how much they have invested in their future.

The side has INR 19.25 crore in their purse. It also has three overseas slots to fill. "And the Titans keep marching on... #RetentionAnnouncement #AavaDe," tweeted GT while announcing the retained players.

Gujarat Titans:

Players released: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Lockie Ferguson, Dominic Drakes, Gurkeerat Singh, Jason Roy, Varun Aaron Current squad: Hardik Pandya (capt), Shubman Gill, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Sai Sudharsan, Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Pradeep Sangwan, Darshan Nalkande, Jayant Yadav, R Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad.