Gujarat Titans lacked the consistency of good performance from their top order last season and for this they have bought experienced Kiwi veteran Kane Williamson this time but Williamson is not in good form in this format.
Image Credit source: PTI
New Delhi: defending champion Gujarat Titans Starting on Friday, March 31, IPL will start defending its title with the very first match of 2023. In the very first match, he will face Chennai Super Kings, captained by four-time champion Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Gujarat, which surprised everyone in the last season, will once again be a contender for the title, but this time its path will not be that easy. Especially in the beginning he will have to face the challenge. At the same time, he also has such a player, whose inclusion in the playing eleven will not be less than any danger and this danger can be huge for Gujarat.
Last season, Gujarat Titans had to deal with the failures of their top order in most of the matches. However, in the middle order, batsmen like Captain Hardik himself, David Miller and Rahul Tewatia did the work of finishing the matches apart from handling the innings. On the other hand, players like Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade, Vijay Shankar could not contribute in the role of opening or number three.
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2 crore deal for strength in batting
This time too, Gujarat has the same players, but to give some strength and experience to their batting, Gujarat bought a player in the auction held in December 2022, who was the captain till last season, but neither his team could do anything. Nor himself. These players are New Zealand’s legendary captain Kane Williamson. Williamson, who was the captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad last season, was bought by Gujarat this time at a base price of Rs 2 crore.
Haven’t played T20 for 4 months
At first glance, it looks like a good deal, but Williamson’s recent form in the shortest format does not inspire confidence at all. In the last 2-3 months, Williamson has looked strong in Test cricket but his performance in T20 is not special. After the T20 World Cup last year, Williamson played only one T20 match against India on 20 November, in which he scored 61 runs but his strike rate was only 117.
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While talking about the World Cup, he scored scores of 23, 8, 40, 61, 46. Out of this, his strike rate was 174 only during his innings of 61 runs against Ireland. Around 100 in everything else.
That is, Williamson has not played any T20 match for more than four months. At the same time, his form in this format was also not good.
Double-edged sword for Gujarat Williamson
thing if IPL If we do, here too the last two seasons have not been good for him. In IPL 2022, Williamson scored only 216 runs at a strike rate of 93. At the same time, in the 2021 season, he scored only 266 runs at a strike rate of 113. In such a situation, if Williamson comes in the playing XI, then it can be a double-edged sword for Gujarat. On one hand, he has tremendous experience and ability, while his performance in this format and especially in this league has not been special in the last one or two years.
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