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Gujarat Titans Introduction
Gujarat Titans is one of the two new franchises added to the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League. Based out of Ahmedabad – Gujarat, the Titans will compete in an expanded 10-team tournament from 2022 onwards. Gujarat Titans will start their journey in this prestigious league with a clash against fellow newcomers Lucknow Super Giants on March 28.
Ahead of the 2022 mega auction, the two new franchises were given an option to draft in up to three players from the released players’ pool. The Titans, unsurprisingly, picked homeboy Hardik Pandya in the first slot. Hardik, who played an integral part in the success of Mumbai Indians in previous seasons, has taken the charge as the skipper of the Gujarat Titans team. This will be a very crucial season for Hardik, who is sidelined from the Indian white-ball team for various reasons and will be looking to regain his form.
Along with Hardik, they secured the services of the best T20 spinner in the world Rashid Khan, who parted ways with Sunrisers Hyderabad. Kolkata Knight Riders released Shubman Gill, their loss was Gujarat Titans’ gain as they bagged the young Indian batter with future potential in mind.
As for the team management, The Titans appointed former Indian cricketer Ashish Nehra as the head coach. Gary Kirsten will be the mentor of the team as well as the batting coach. Vikram Solanki will handle the responsibility of Director of Cricket at the franchise. This combo has worked together previously for Royal Challengers Bangalore but things hadn’t gone well. They’d be hoping for a better show this time around.
Gujarat Titans Owners
CVC Capital Partners bagged the rights for Gujarat Titans. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) held an e-auction in late 2021 for the rights of the two new franchises – Ahmedabad and Lucknow. CVC Capital Partners, a British private equity and investment advisory firm, earned the rights for the Ahmedabad franchise with a second highest bid of INR 5,625 crore.
List of all players in the team along with their nationality
Gujarat Titans have picked a squad of 23 players for the IPL 2022. They filled the maximum quota of eight overseas players and bought 15 Indian players. Below is the list of the complete squad of Gujarat Titans for the IPL 2022.
Hardik Pandya – India
Rashid Khan – Afghanistan
Shubman Gill – India
Mohammed Shami – India
Jason Roy (Withdrawn) – England
Lockie Ferguson – New Zealand
Abhinav Sadarangani – India
Rahul Tewatia – India
Noor Ahmad – Afghanistan
R Sai Kishore – India
Dominic Drakes – West Indies
Jayant Yadav – India
Vijay Shankar – India
Darshan Nalkande – India
Yash Dayal – India
Alzarri Joseph – West Indies
Pradeep Sangwan – India
David Miller – South Africa
Wriddhiman Saha – India
Matthew Wade – Australia
Gurkeerat Singh – India
Varun Aaron – India
B Sai Sudharshan – India
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Replacement) – Afghanistan
Top Auctioned Players of 2022
Gujarat Titans drafted in both Hardik Pandya and Rashid Khan for INR 15 Cr each while securing Shubman Gill for INR 8 Cr. The drafting part is fairly easy and the Titans team management aced it perfectly. In the auction, they started well by getting Jason Roy, Lockie Ferguson and Mohammed Shami. But their pursuit of Rahul Tewatia screwed up their budget and they could not recover from it.
The Kiwi fast bowler Lockie Ferguson was their costliest player in the auction at INR 10 Cr while Rahul Tewatia cost them INR 9 Cr. Below is the list of Gujarat Titans’ top priced players in the 2022 auction.
Lockie Ferguson – INR 10 Cr
Rahul Tewatia – INR 9 Cr
Mohammed Shami – INR 6.25 Cr
Yash Dayal – INR 3.20 Cr
David Miller – INR 3 Cr
R Sai Kishore – INR 3 Cr
IPL 2022 Schedule for Team Gujarat
With the IPL becoming a 10-team affair, it has returned back to the old two-group format, which was implemented back in 2011. Gujarat Titans are placed into the second group alongside Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Punjab Kings. They will play two matches with each of these four teams in the league stage. The Titans will play two games against their equivalent from the other group – Lucknow Super Giants. They will face the remaining four teams from the other group once.
The Titans will kick off their campaign on March 28 at Wankhede Stadium. Like other teams, they will play four games each at Wankhede Stadium and Dr. D. Y. Patil Stadium, and three matches each at Brabourne Stadium and MCA Stadium.
| Day and Date | Match (vs) | Venue | Time (IST) |
| Monday, March 28 | Lucknow Super Giants | Wankhede Stadium | 7:30 PM |
| Saturday, April 2 | Delhi Capitals | MCA Stadium, Pune | 7:30 PM |
| Friday, April 8 | Punjab Kings | Brabourne Stadium, CCI | 7:30 PM |
| Monday, April 11 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | DY Patil Stadium | 7:30 PM |
| Thursday, April 14 | Rajasthan Royals | DY Patil Stadium | 7:30 PM |
| Sunday, April 17 | Chennai Super Kings | MCA Stadium, Pune | 7:30 PM |
| Saturday, April 23 | Kolkata Knight Riders | DY Patil Stadium | 3:30 PM |
| Wednesday, April 27 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Wankhede Stadium | 7:30 PM |
| Saturday, April 30 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | Brabourne Stadium, CCI | 3:30 PM |
| Tuesday, May 3 | Punjab Kings | DY Patil Stadium | 7:30 PM |
| Friday, May 6 | Mumbai Indians | Brabourne Stadium, CCI | 7:30 PM |
| Tuesday, May 10 | Lucknow Super Giants | MCA Stadium, Pune | 7:30 PM |
| Sunday, May 15 | Chennai Super Kings | Wankhede Stadium | 3:30 PM |
| Thursday, May 19 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | Wankhede Stadium | 7:30 PM |
Gujarat Titans Top Players
Rashid Khan
The Afghanistan superstar is one of the most valuable assets a team can possess in a T20 tournament. Rashid Khan is young, adds dual skill and is one of the fittest players in the T20 arena. Apart from that, his record speaks for itself. The leg-spinner has 435 wickets to his name from 311 matches at an incredible economy of 6.34 rpo. Rashid Khan strikes at every 16.4 balls and has picked four or more wickets in an innings on 12 instances. As for his record in the IPL, Rashid Khan has snared 93 wickets from 76 matches at an economy of 6.33. The 24yr old has taken 17 or more wickets in each of the five seasons so far.
Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya quickly became one of the best all-rounders in T20 cricket but the injuries have kept him away from bowling in the last couple of years. Despite that, he remains one of the most sought-after players courtesy of his batting prowess. Hardik Pandya is one of the very few elite finishers in the T20 arena. In his overall T20 career, Hardik has scored 2797 runs at an average of 27 and strike rate of 142. He also has 110 wickets to his name with his pace bowling. In the IPL, Hardik has even better batting numbers with 1476 runs at 27 average while striking at 154. Hardik has been working towards his return to bowling. He will be a key player for the Titans in the upcoming season.
Lockie Ferguson
Lockie Ferguson is one of the bowlers in world cricket. The Kiwi speedster can intimidate the batters with his sheer pace. He was part of Kolkata Knight Riders for the last three seasons but only got to play 18 matches combined. Ferguson was exceptional in the second half of the IPL 2021, where he claimed 13 wickets from eight games at a strike rate of 13.8. The 30yr old right arm quick has 113 wickets in his overall T20 career at a strike rate of 17.8. Lockie Ferguson is set to be the first choice fast bowler at Gujarat Titans and will be a player to watch out for.
Shubman Gill
The 22yr old batter is one of the most talented young players in the world. Shubman Gill has already shined at the highest level in Test cricket but despite his potential, he hasn’t evolved much as a T20 batter. Gill has shown the signs of what he can do, time and again. He has an excellent base against pace and is one of the better players of spin in the Indian circuit. He averages a good 32 in his overall T20 career with 1834 runs while striking at 125. Gill has registered 10 fifties in the IPL and from the fantasy point of view, he will be one of the solid picks.
How far will Gujarat Titans go?
Gujarat Titans had a fantastic start to their season with three quality draft picks and three more in the auction. But shelling 9 Cr on Rahul Tewatia proved to be disastrous for them as they could not fulfill other squad requirements. Gujarat could neither get a top class middle order option nor a quality new ball bowler.
The Titans have a very good bowling attack with Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan as three frontline bowlers. The batting unit, however, is a complete mess. Jason Roy’s withdrawal from the tournament due to bio-bubble fatigue puts a further dent on it. The Titans have called in a very capable Afghan wicketkeeper batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz as a replacement.
The middle order has Vijay Shankar and Abhinav Manohar, two players who are a supporting cast at best. Giving them a responsibility of the crucial middle overs phase could turn out ugly. Whether they will play Matthew Wade in the middle order, where he has been poor, or at the top of the order will be an important decision.
Gujarat did a decent job when it comes to the back-up options. Alzarri Joseph, David Miller, Dominic Drakes and Noor Ahmad are a pretty good backup quartet. They’d actually be better served with having David Miller in the middle order ahead of Matthew Wade. Wriddhiman Saha can also be seen as a potential top order option. Jayant Yadav and R Sai Kishore offer more spin options.
All in all, Gujarat Titans showed a lot of promise but could not quite finish the job in their first auction. The Titans would have to pull off an unbelievable team effort if they are to reach the playoffs.
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Who is the Gujarat Titans captain?
Hardik Pandya, who was drafted in at the first slot, will be the captain of Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2022.
Which is the home ground of Gujarat Titans?
Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad will be the home ground of Gujarat Titans. However, the IPL 2022 will be played entirely in Maharashtra due to Covid-19 threat, meaning Gujarat Titans will have to wait for their debut in front of the home crowd.
Also Read: Gujarat Titans Owner – Who is the Owner of Gujarat IPL Team?
