More middle-order questions for GT than answers

Ahmedabad: From the onset of IPL 2026, 2022 champions Gujarat Titans (GT) faced a barrage of questions surrounding the vulnerability of their middle order should the top order, comprising captain Shubman Gill, B Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler, fail. On Sunday, playing their third final at the Narendra Modi Stadium here, that eventuality came to reality.

Gill (10), Sudharsan (12) and Buttler (19) were stifled by the bowling of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), and the onus of scoring fell on the middle order, who fell face first against a well-rounded and superiorly prepped opposition.

No bowling line-ups fear a middle order consisting of batters Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar and Rahul Tewatia and bowling all-rounders Jason Holder and Rashid Khan. Sunday’s final was a chance for the middle order to answer the questions. But they came up short against the wily and incisive bowling of RCB. This anomaly is what, according to GT chief operating officer (COO) Arvinder Singh, the five-year-old franchise will look to rectify in the mini-auction later this year.

“An excellent campaign comes to an end. It was not the ideal ending, but it happens. But still, three finals in five years, including a championship, four playoffs in five years is not bad,” Singh said in an exclusive interaction with TOI.

“We will address the shortcomings. Despite that, if you can achieve this, it’s still a great achievement. We will further strengthen our team and come back stronger in all departments of the game,” he added.

The biggest gain, stated Singh, was the arrival of Shubman Gill -- the captain. “The captain has arrived. He has taken charge of the team. His leadership calls were mostly spot on this year. We want to win the championship next year,” said Singh.

The dependence on quality Test bowlers to nullify opposition batters proved to be successful. But in the final, RCB openers attacked GT’s premier pacers, Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Siraj, in the powerplay to put the contest to bed in the first six overs. While leg spinner Rashid Khan took two wickets in one over to spike interest in the contest, the lack of further breakthroughs in the middle overs dented GT’s bid to make more inroads into RCB’s batting line-up.

Has the under-utilisation of spinning options led to GT’s bowling attack appearing one-dimensional? Singh replied, “Not really. R Sai Kishore played the second qualifier. He didn’t bowl a single ball. But still we won. It is not that we under-bowled our spinners. We bowled according to the strengths of our bowling unit,” he said.