No issues with GT's middle-order, asserts skipper Shubman Gill

Gujarat Titans skipper Shubman Gill asserted there were no issues with his team's middle order after his side defeated five-time champions Mumbai Indians in a match where the top order did the bulk of the scoring for the home side here. GT overcame Mumbai Indians by 36 runs, making use of the home conditions and black soil pitch as they posted a steep 196 for eight and then restricted Hardik Pandya's team to 160 for six.

GT's top-three batters -- openers Sai Sudharsan (68) and Gill (38) and one-down batter Jos Buttler (39) -- gave the home side a flourishing start but the middle order, comprising Shahrukh Khan (9), Sherfane Rutherford (18), Rahul Tewatia (0) and Rashid Khan (6), went cheaply.

However, Gill said it was not a concern.


"I don't think so (middle order is a concern). Even in the previous match (vs Punjab Kings), I think, yes it was a high-scoring game and we were chasing around 250 runs (243), but Rutherford scored around 48 runs (46 in the middle order). It's not a bad start. So, I don't think we are at all concerned about the middle order," said Gill.

This was the first win of the season for the 2022 champions GT, after their loss to Punjab Kings in a high-scoring game.

The skipper added that several things went right for his side on Saturday, including a flourishing start in the power play.

"So many things... the way we started off in the power play. On this kind of a wicket, scoring close to 200 runs is a great confidence for us going into the second innings. I think the way we bowled in the power play, the way we bowled in the middle, everything went our way in this match," said Gill.

The home conditions, especially the black soil pitch, did assist GT, and Gill said this kind of track suits his team's style of play compared to the red soil surface.

"I think each team has their own strengths and the way they like to play a certain type of a cricket. I think this kind of a wicket suits our batting and bowling overall... strength of our team more than on the red soil."

The India player also added that sometimes high-scoring games have a tendency to take the skill out of the match.

"We just don't want all the games to be 240-250 runs. I feel if there are such high-scoring games, the skill out of cricket, it takes away from that," he said.

Gill said the black soil pitch was not prepared keeping in mind the opposition.

"We decided to play on this wicket before we played the first match. There was not enough time for us to prepare a red soil wicket. So, it was decided before we played the first match that we're going to play this match on a black-soil wicket. It had nothing to do with the opposition."