- Gujarat Titans’ top order didn’t have consistency in excellent play last season, so they got experienced Kiwi Kane Williamson this time around. But Williamson struggles with this format.
current winners The first game of IPL 2023, which begins on Friday, March 31, will mark Gujarat Titans’ official start to protecting their championship. He will play the four-time winner Chennai Super Kings led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the opening game. Gujarat, who shocked everyone in the previous season, will once more be an attacker for the championship, but this time its route won’t be as simple. He will have challenges, more so at first. He also has a player of this caliber, and his place in the starting eleven will pose a danger that can be too great for Gujarat.
Gujarat Titans had to contend with their top-order struggles in the majority of the games during the previous season. However, in the middle order, players like Rahul Tewatia, David Miller, and even Captain Hardik himself worked to wrap up games in addition to managing the innings. Players like Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade, and Vijay Shankar, on the other hand, were powerless to help in the starting or number three position.
Two million-dollar contract for hitting prowess
Gujarat has the same players this time around, but in order to improve their batting with power and experience, Gujarat purchased a player from the captain of the previous season’s team in the December 2022 auction. not even him. Kane Williamson, a seasoned skipper for New Zealand, is one of these players. Williamson, the Sunrisers Hyderabad captain from the previous year, was purchased by Gujarat this time for a base fee of Rs 2 crore.
the Twenty-20 format. has not been played in 4 months.
Although it looks like it be an okay deal at first glance, Williamson’s recent performance in the shortest format doesn’t give him much reason for confidence. Williamson was recently strong in Test cricket, but his T20 success has not been especially interesting. Williamson only played one T20 match after the T20 World Cup in 2017, a match against India on November 20 in which he made 61 runs but had a strike rate of just 117. If we are talking about the World Cup, on the other hand, he tallied 23, 8, 40, 61, and 46. His only 61-run stint against Ireland had a strike rate of 174 out of this. Nearly 100 in all other categories. Williamson did not participate in a T20 match for more than four months, so that is step one. His form was also poor in this format at the same moment.
Williamson’s two-pronged approach for Gujarat
The past two IPL seasons have not been positive for them either if we are talking about that league. Williamson only made 216 runs at a strike rate of 93 in the IPL 2022. He also had a hit rate of 113 and 266 runs scored during the 2021 season. If Williamson is included in the starting eleven in such a scenario, it could be problematic for Gujarat. On the one hand, he is very skilled and experienced, but over the past year or so, his play in this league and style, in particular, has not been of special interest.
