Ahead of the IPL 2022 when every franchise was busy rebuilding its squad during the mega auctions by filling it with the most suitable combination of players so as to have a major impact, it was pretty much certain that this season would be a highly anticipated and a rather unpredictable one with all the team’s giving it their all right from the beginning of the auctions. Back then anybody would’ve rarely considered Gujarat Titans to be a major threat to the remaining sides, even more so due to the fact that the franchise was yet to make its debut in the tournament.
Looking at the difficulty level and the glorious history of several other teams that they had achieved in the past season, it didn’t really seem that a team which was new to the tournament would stand a chance in such circumstances. The Gujarat Titans even after their squad was ready weren’t looking much strong a side to challenge the other in form sides which had lifted the trophy in the past. It seemed to be a task cut out for a new Gujarat to even find itself a respectable position among the rest considering the strengths that certain other strong sides had developed and boasted about prior to the beginning of the tournament.
Two months later Gujarat Titans proudly are sitting at the top of the points table with 7 wins out of their 8 matches played so far. The side has already nearly cemented its place in the playoffs and is one of the strongest contenders to lift the trophy this season. They’ve majorly managed to outplay any team they’ve faced until now this season. All their departments have worked out their responsibilities with 100% efficiency as a result of which the side has managed to achieve incredible excellence with the passage of time.
The team has fought in every situation and battled its way out of troublesome circumstances against all the odds to literally stun the teams which earlier were regarded as giants of the league. The high-quality players like Hardik Pandya, David Miller, Shubhman Gill, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan and many more which the management drafted into the squad during the auctions have seemed to pay their prices off in an incredible manner over the matches played so far. The players who weren’t being rated much high and we’re being rather called mediocre have taken the Gujarat side to unbelievable heights time and time again this season.
With the wonderful execution of strategies in almost every game played so far, the team has displayed amazingly remarkable collective brilliance to bring their team out of the hole every time. Players like Hardik Pandya and David Miller who were unable to find a rhythm while playing for their previous franchises found new life as soon as they adorned the Gujarat colours as they both have won games all by themselves to their side. The incredible stats of the team so far this season as of now are:-
- Matches played:- 8
- Wins:- 7
- Losses:- 1
- Points:- 14
- Net run rate :- +0.347
Talking about the various departments separately, all the players have perfectly been able to fit into their positions and fulfil all of their responses with 100% accuracy and precision. The way that the team has managed to counter the unforeseen and pressurises situations to win matches against the odds deserves appreciation. It’s almost impossible to think of a team new into a tournament as tough as the IPL and find its way through to the top with utmost ease against champion sides. The batsman at first need to be credited for the brilliant outcomes over the matches it’s due to their brilliant consistent performances that the side has managed to overturn the opposition on the majority of the occasions.
The batting order has been brilliantly stable so far with Shubhman Gill and Mathew Wade opening the innings, the latter though had to be some irregular performances. Skipper Hardik Pandya adopted a new job altogether as he decided to promote himself up the order. The idea has seemed to pay off incredibly until now as the right-hander has scored two wonderful half-centuries and steered his team to victories convincingly. The middle-order which supposedly was expected to be a weak link turned out to be the pillar of the team instead of as flamboyant batting styles from Rahul Tewatia and David Miller have been of immense use to the side as both the batters have done a wonderful job and won impossible games to their team single-handedly.
A young Abhinav Manohar scoring big shots in death overs also was a big surprise to the opposition on many occasions. The lower middle-order too found incredible strength from a certain Rashid Khan who managed to notch up a couple of incredible cameos with the bat to score quick runs in the death overs thereby helping his side chase mammoth totals under tough situations. Some amazing knocks from the Gujarat batsman so far are:-
- Shubhman Gill – 96(59) vs PKBS
- Hardik Pandya – 87(52) vs RR
- David Miller :- 94*(51) vs CSK
- Rashid Khan :- 40(21) vs CSK , 25(10) vs SRH
Top Run scorers for Gujarat Titans this season
| POS | PLAYER | TEAM | MAT | INN | RUNS | SR | 4S | 6S |
| 1 | Hardik Pandya | GUJ | 7 | 7 | 305 | 137.39 | 32 | 8 |
| 2 | David Miller | GUJ | 8 | 8 | 237 | 149.06 | 19 | 11 |
| 3 | Shubman Gill | GUJ | 8 | 8 | 229 | 142.24 | 22 | 6 |
| 4 | Rahul Tewatia | GUJ | 8 | 7 | 136 | 158.14 | 13 | 7 |
Bowlers win tournaments as they say, much to the delight of the Gujarat management the bowlers of the side have been ably assisting the batters in contributing to the team’s overall success this season so far. The pace duo of Shami and Lockie Ferguson is doing excellently until now much to the expectations of the management and fans. A certain Rashid Khan has taken up the responsibilities of spin bowling in the middle overs and executed all the strategies superbly well. The wickets have been coming in regularly which in turn has helped the Titans chole the opposition batsman and not allowed them to score many runs on the majority of the occasions. Gujarat’s top wicket-takers this season so far are listed below.
Top Wicket Takers for Gujarat Titans this season
| POS | PLAYER | TEAM | MAT | INN | BALLS | WKTS | ECO |
| 1 | Mohammed Shami | GT | 8 | 8 | 192 | 13 | 7.53 |
| 2 | Lockie Ferguson | GT | 8 | 8 | 192 | 9 | 8.91 |
| 3 | Rashid Khan | GT | 8 | 8 | 192 | 8 | 7.09 |
| 4 | Yash Dayal | GT | 4 | 4 | 96 | 7 | 9.12 |
| 5 | Hardik Pandya | GT | 7 | 5 | 111 | 4 | 7.57 |
The coaching staffs of the franchise which include Ashish Nehra, Gary Kirsten, Ashish Kapoor and others also deserve the credit for the brilliant performance that’s been displayed by the team so far this season. They managed that team brilliantly and helped the players reach their peak level so as to bring the most value to the team every time they stepped onto the pitch. A team which made its way into the IPL for the first time definitely needed its coaching members to be 100% efficient in their duties. Only then could they achieve their objective. For Gujarat Titans, all their plans and strategies went as per their expectations much to the credit of the brilliant work from all their coaching staff. That they managed to bring the best out of the bunch of players they had helped the team achieve incredible heights on the cricket field.
With 8 more matches to be played, Gujarat seems to be the favorite to finish among the top 4 and also should comfortably be able to win the trophy in their maiden season if they’re able to continue such wonderfully consistent performance over the upcoming matches hereon. A continuous combined display of quality and determination from these bunch of players is surely going to be exemplary to all other teams playing the league in the seasons that are to come after this.