Momentum with Titans as red-hot Buttler squares up against familiar faces
Middle order will be in focus for both Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals, who are coming off wins
Alagappan Muthu
08-Apr-2025
Big picture: Similar teams, different results
These two teams have very similar make-ups. But their trajectories in IPL 2025 have diverged because the same strength they have invested in has worked for one but not the other.
Gujarat Titans (GT) are up in second place on the points table because their top three have been enormously productive. Shubman Gill, B Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler have been responsible for over 70% of their team's runs - 503 out of 715. Plan A is going really well for them. Too well, maybe? T20 cricket is messy. And eventually, GT will have to deal with the fact that their middle order has got no time in the middle.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) have gone through that arc already this season. Yashasvi Jaiswal's indifferent form and Sanju Samson's return from injury have exposed their middle order and those back-up players were able to fashion an excellent win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Guwahati last week. Nitish Rana and Co appear slightly more battle-ready than Shahrukh Khan and Co.
Form guide
Gujarat Titans WWW (Last three matches, most recent first)Rajasthan Royals WWL
New loyalties
Buttler, now with GT, will be coming up against his former team. He played seven seasons for RR, scoring over 3000 runs. RR captain Samson had even said before the season that letting Buttler go ahead of the auction was "one of the most challenging decisions" for him.
Team news and likely XIIs
There is no clarity yet around Kagiso Rabada, who left GT to return home for personal reasons. In his continued absence, Ishant Sharma might get more games as the Impact Sub.
Gujarat Titans (probable XII): 1 Shubman Gill (capt), 2 B Sai Sudharsan, 3 Jos Buttler (wk), 4 Sherfane Rutherford, 5 Shahrukh Khan, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Arshad Khan/Washington Sundar, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 R Sai Kishore, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Prasidh Krishna, 12 Ishant Sharma
RR seemed to have hit their stride in the last game with Samson back as captain and Jaiswal producing runs as opener. They do not have a pressing reason to change their combination.
Rajasthan Royals (probable XII): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 3 Riyan Parag, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Dhruv Jurel, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Kumar Kartikeya/Shubham Dubey, 10 Maheesh Theekshana, 11 Yudhvir Singh/Tushar Deshpande, 12 Sandeep Sharma
The big question
Is Rashid Khan on the decline? Surely not. A man with over 600 T20 wickets deserves the benefit of the doubt. But over the last two seasons in the IPL, he has picked up 11 wickets in 16 matches at an average of 46.36 and an economy rate of 8.84.
Is Rashid Khan in decline?
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In the spotlight: Sherfane Rutherford and Jofra Archer
GT got Sherfane Rutherford at his base price at the IPL auction in November, which is perhaps indicative of his numbers until that point: 106 runs in nine innings at an average of 15 and a strike rate of 102. In six of those innings, though, he was batting at No. 6 or lower. GT have been using him up the order and that faith is already being repaid. Rutherford has got 129 runs in four innings this year with an average of 64.5 and a strike rate of 176.71.
Jofra Archer, at his best, is a sight to behold and the very first over of the last game that he played suggested that he has found his rhythm. His speed was approaching 150kph. He was getting movement off the seam. He was clattering the stumps. Injuries have tried to derail his career, but it appears they have been unsuccessful. On Tuesday, RR will depend on him to rip out one of GT's biggest strengths. Archer vs Gill in T20s is nine runs, 13 balls, two dismissals.
Pitch and conditions
Ahmedabad offers a choice of surfaces - black soil, which makes the pitch slower and lower, and red soil, which offers pace and bounce. All that considered, though, batters have scored runs at a rate of 9.76 per over, which puts this ground behind only Hyderabad (10.16) in terms of high-scoring venues this IPL.
Stats and trivia
- Buttler has a favourable head-to-head record against Archer in T20s: 89 runs in 47 balls for two dismissals.
- Mohammed Siraj has found his rhythm again. He had only five wickets in the powerplay last season. He's already gone past that mark now, having played ten fewer matches. His pace is up - 50% his balls in the first six overs are 140-plus kph. All that sets him up even better for his contest with Samson, which, in the IPL, reads 36 runs in 31 balls and three dismissals.
- A battle with RR might be coming at the perfect time for Rashid. He looked in decent nick against SRH (4-0-31-0) and has the wood over Riyan Parag (24 runs, 28 balls, two dismissals) in the IPL and Shimron Hetmyer (79 runs, 63 balls, six dismissals) in all T20 cricket.
- GT's top order doing as well as they have has meant a set batter is always around to take advantage of the death overs. Their run rate of 13.31 is the second-best among all teams in this phase of play this season.
- RR's spinners have picked up 11 wickets this year, behind only Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Maheesh Theekshana has even coped with the burden of bowling in the death, picking up a wicket and giving just 18 runs in 18 balls. Wanindu Hasaranga has only been used in the middle overs and he's been effective enough that only two other bowlers have more wickets than he does - R Sai Kishore (8) and Noor Ahmad (8).
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo