Shubman Gill: We would have bowled first. Looks like a really good wicket. We have good memories here (GT). Hopefully, we'll make more. Captaincy has been a great experience with Ashu pa and Vikram. We have two changes - Noor comes in for Mitch and Darshan Nalkande comes in for Sai Kishore.
Pat Cummins: We'll bat. Looks like a good wicket, pretty hot. We want to put runs on the board. Don't know about (it being the home ground) but happy memories here. It's not about onus (the last match) but gives us the freedom. Same team as last game.
SunRisers Hyderabad won the toss and elected to bat.
Mayank Agarwal (SunRisers Hyderabad): The team environment is very good. We are playing an aggressive brand of cricket and everyone is enjoying it. Every coach has his set of thought processes - Brian Lara's was different and Daniel Vettori's is different.
Similar sort of thinking that we need to go out there and play aggressive cricket and enjoy ourselves but different ways of putting it across. (A bowler as captain) He (Cummins) is a World Cup winning captain. He strategises well and reads the game well. His perspective and his ideas along with how he guides the team is commendable. (On 277 runs against MI) Very honestly,
you cannot plan for such stuff. You just have to go out there and play fearlessly. After that, one after another, everyone played well and the momentum continued. No one tried to stop it or say that this score is enough at any point. As runs started flowing, we did not take a step back. We wanted to put more pressure and put up a big total in the first innings itself and finish the match.
Pitch report!
66 meters on the off-side for the cut shot, 58 meters to third man. Pull, hook it's 63 meters. Down the ground is 73 meters. First looks - it looks like a batting beauty. It's an absolute road. You talked about the head, but there's a nice breeze flowing around. The previous games here, teams batting first have scored over 200. SunRisers will come here and think, 'maybe we can get 270 here again'. There's an even covering of grass, it's 50-50 on defending 200 scores. You can chase down a big score. It's a black soil where the moisture won't stay for too long too, reckon Ravi Shastri and Kevin Pietersen.
The pitch at the NaMo Stadium against CSK was a slow and tacky one. Given how this season has gone so far, repeat matches at the same venue have offered similar surfaces. And this is day game too! Which is why SRH would certainly be missing Wanindu Hasaranga, who, as reported today, has been ruled out of the entire IPL due to a heel injury. Maybe we'll see Travis Head bowl today? Or will Washington Sundar return?
As we build-up for the toss, check here for our bowling predictions:
IPL 2024: Predicting 3 players who could pick up the most wickets in today's GT vs SRH match
IPL 2024: Predicting 3 players who could pick up the most wickets in today's GT vs SRH match
Hello and a very, very warm welcome to Sportskeeda's live, ball-by-ball coverage of Match 12 of IPL 2024 between Gujarat Titans and the SunRisers Hyderabad live from Ahmedabad. I (Rudransh) and my co-commentator Sourabh will take you through everything that transpires in the middle and more!
It's a competition between one of the best batting sides in the competition, hell-bent on blasting team away with the sheer power of their willow, and one a side which is among shrewdest operators of finding the small margins and making sure the sum of all its components is bigger than the whole. It's not just Gill vs Cummins (19th November memories, anyone?), it's also Rashid Khan's clash against his old franchise at his new home. Imagine him against Head, Klaasen, Markram and you will imagine a blockbuster. And don't forget Mohit Sharma - who's a monster at home and would have a ton of tricks ready for this contest.
A few days ago, the Sunrisers Hyderabad broke all sorts of batting records, en route a mammoth 277-run innings. The Mumbai Indians ran them close but the night belonged to the intent the SRH batters showed and the way they kept hitting sixes, irrespective of the challenge thrown in front of them.
That, in fact, seems a theme they want to reprise as often as possible this season. Even against the Kolkata Knight Riders – a game they eventually lost, they scored more than 200. Now, the caravan for them moves to Ahmedabad, which has usually been a high-scoring venue and where their batters should thrive.
That will be music to the ears of Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head, who thoroughly enjoyed themselves, racing away to 16-ball and 18-ball fifties, respectively. Heinrich Klaasen got to that mark in 22 and ended up with 80 off 34 balls. Aiden Markram was not shabby either. The only batter in their top five yet to set the stage alight is Mayank Agarwal, but he has previously shown the pedigree to flourish in the IPL.
Gujarat, in contrast, have stuttered and stumbled with the bat so far. They are yet to breach the 170-run mark. Shubman Gill, appointed skipper at the start of the season, has also not found his usual groove. David Miller is in the middle of a barren run. Sai Sudharsan has scored runs but has probably lacked the tempo the Titans would have liked.
They can bolster their batting unit by including someone like Shahrukh Khan. That, though, will mean they play with one less all-rounder, either Azmatullah Omarzai or Vijay Shankar.
All is not doom and gloom for the Titans, though. Despite missing Mohammed Shami, their bowling fared admirably against the Mumbai Indians, pulling a win out of the fire when it did not seem likely. The wheels came off against the Chennai Super Kings but now that they are back home, they will feel a turnaround is imminent.
Rashid Khan will be particularly key in that pursuit. In various T20 leagues, Klaasen has gotten the better of the leggie, but that should only fuel Rashid’s desire to get one back. R Sai Kishore could also be key, especially in unfavourable match-ups against Abhishek and Klaasen.
As for the Sunrisers, their bowling has also been a problem. All of their pacers, barring Pat Cummins, have travelled. Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s display has left SRH short-handed at the start and they will hope he can rediscover his mojo soon. Mayank Markande, functioning as their primary spinner, has held his own so far, and that is a good sign against a team that has a few left-handers.
Thus, this game is very tough to call. SRH have the momentum but the Titans will be enjoying home support, where they will likely be buoyed by a raucous crowd. If that is enough to stop what is looking like an irresistible juggernaut remains to be seen. But it does set things up nicely for this Sunday afternoon clash!
GT Probable XII: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill (c), B Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, R Sai Kishore, Umesh Yadav, Spencer Johnson, Mohit Sharma
SRH Probable XII: Mayank Agarwal, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Jaydev Unadkat, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik
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