Gujarat Titans’ IPL 2022 success mantra: Astute planning, masterly implementation and strength of collective – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Gujarat Titans had no representative in the top three run-makers of IPL 2022. Their highest wicket-taker was only joint sixth in the final race for the Purple Cup. And yet…

Yet, the debutants made it a season to remember, etching their place in history as the first first-time champions since Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016. Their fascinating surge through the competition was a reaffirmation of the power of the collective, of the virtue of strength in depth, of the value of self-belief and hunger and ambition and desire.

Four of their most influential performers – mercurial skipper Hardik Pandya, dynamic opener Shubman Gill, explosive middle-order virtuoso David Miller and experienced pace ace Mohammed Shami – had their best seasons ever in the Indian Premier League. Wriddhiman Saha, a winner with the Sunrisers six years previously, had his second-best season of all time while Rashid Khan, the magician who seldom has a bad game, let alone a middling campaign, signed off with 19 wickets and a staggering economy of 6.59 from 63.5 overs.

Gujarat Titans players did not dominate the Orange or Purple Cap race but they fire together as a team. Sportzpics

The captain, Gill and Miller all ended up with more than 480 runs, Shami led the attack superbly with 20 sticks. Is it hardly a surprise that they were the last team standing at the conclusion of the 74-match spectacle which ended in a blaze of glory in front of nearly 105,000 raucous fans at the magnificent Narendra Modi Stadium?

The Ahmedabad crowd was decidedly pro-Titans, as one would expect. It was, after all, their first sighting of the heroes representing their city in the world’s most celebrated domestic competition. They had turned up, resplendent and buoyant, hoping for a fairy-tale finish to a magnificent campaign mounted by Pandya’s men. They weren’t to be disappointed, as the Titans swept to a third victory in as many matches this season against Rajasthan Royals, meek and limp and uninspired on the night when they could least afford to be so.

Truth to tell, the Royals only played as well as they were allowed to. Gujarat were too switched on, too astute tactically, too meticulous in their preparation and too flawless in their execution with the ball for Rajasthan to impose themselves. The Royals’ first-hand knowledge of the conditions – they had crushed Royal Challengers Bangalore on the same strip just two nights previously – counted for little as the Titans impeccably translated well-worked gameplans into masterclasses in implementation, hitting the hard lengths the used surface demanded and offering little by way of width or room.

As impressive as the carrying out of plans was, the campaign was a victory for the exceptional behind-the-scenes work put in by the core management group of Ashish Nehra, the head coach, and Gary Kirsten, the batting coach and mentor of the franchise. The duo was as diligent in its approach during the two months of the tournament as in the lead-up to the mega auction in February, when they silently put together a combination few believed had the potential to mount a solid challenge.

Captain Hardik Pandya with Gujarat Titans coach Ashish Nehra. Sportzpics

The vastly underrated Nehra and well-acclaimed strategist Kirsten clearly knew what they were doing. Top of their shopping list was a string of players who could adapt seamlessly to different situations, embrace versatility with either the bat or the ball and always, always, put team before self.

Their three acquisitions in the draft before the auction were interesting. Pandya, with little leadership experience, was roped in as the captain. Rashid’s selection was a no-brainer, given that he has been the Mr IPL in bowling for so long. To plump for Gill was a bit of a surprise because, of late, he had struggled to match potential with performance.

Not one of this threesome disappointed. Pandya finished as the fourth-highest scorer of the season with 487 runs and backed it up with eight wickets, Rashid was as incisive and parsimonious as ever and Gill responded to the show of faith with 483 runs, slotting in at No. 5 on the run scorers’ charts. But the Titans’ arsenal of riches didn’t end there.

Among their most fruitful buys at the auction was Miller, the acknowledged finisher who had fallen on hard times. The South African went unsold on the first day of the auction, his base price of Rs 1 crore finding no takers until he was brought back on day two at the behest of – hang on – the Royals, the franchise he represented for the last two seasons, and the Titans!

The Titans dished out Rs 3 crore for his services, not unaware that they were taking a massive punt on the left-hander. Having played just one game in 2020, Miller was disappointing last season too, making just 124 runs in nine games at a strike rate of 109.73. The Titans invested heavily in him by guaranteeing him a place in the XI for as long as was needed, impressing upon him that the No. 5 position and the role of the finisher was his for the taking.

Thrilled by the show of confidence and feeding off the security it provided him, Miller was back to his destructive self, amassing 481 runs at a strike rate of 142.72. Alongside Rahul Tewatia, who wasn’t even required to bat in the two knockout games, he pulled the fat out of the fire numerous times in the league phase, instilling the belief in his colleagues and the fear in their opponents that no target was beyond the Titans’ reach.

The Titans also stitched together a fabulous pace attack that centred around but wasn’t restricted to Shami. There was a definitive slant towards raw pace, which explains the procurement of Lockie Ferguson and Alzarri Joseph, but they were also willing to give the uncapped and unheralded left-arm pace of Yash Dayal a go. All of them delivered consistently, feeding off each other and thriving in an atmosphere of calmness and levity that was such a driving force behind the Titans’ imperial march.

So much credit must go to Pandya for lending new meaning to the term ‘leading from the front’. It helped that he was brilliant with the bat and excellent with the ball – both good news for Team India – but more than that, he connected with all his players on a fundamentally personal level, and displayed wonderful tactical awareness and great man-management skills. Not many had been convinced about Pandya’s leadership credentials, just as they weren’t sure the Titans had it in them to make a strong fist of it. How wrong we were to be proved on both counts!

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