Gujarat Titans rose to first place in the IPL table with a crushing 82-run win over fellow playoff contenders Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday night. This was GT’s 8th win in their last ten games, and fifth in a row – a hot-streak at the business end of the season, as Shubman Gill’s team ride their phenomenal bowling performances to a sequence of big victories.
GT are a rarity in the top end of the table, especially in an IPL that has been defined by a particular style of play. Explosive opening batters and massive scores have been the way to go in this IPL thus far, with SRH themselves being a shining example of that. However, GT have proven that they have exactly the right antidote to that kind of cricket, with a bowling unit that is providing a massive challenge for batting orders.
GT in this cycle have received some concern if not criticism regarding their batting style, with a reliance on their top three of Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, and Jos Buttler. However, 2026 has also given them the boost of Washington Sundar coming in for the middle overs and providing an offensive spark, all in all making for a gameplan that is clearly serving them very well.
Gill wants his team to remain ‘ruthless’
However, captain Shubman Gill in the post-match interview in Ahmedabad remained bullish about this team not having a set game-plan, and how they simply try to assess and adapt based on the conditions they are playing in.
“Honestly, it’s all about still being consistent and ruthless as much as we can. We are not a team which play a particular style or brand of cricket,” said Gill. “We want to be a team that sees the wicket, assess the conditions and then play accordingly.”
GT don’t have the top-end power to set scores of 220+ regularly, although they can on occasion. However, this is a batting unit that is built for very rare failure – a loss against MI where the batting failed was the sole occasion this year, with the stable top order keeping them regularly consistent.
“It’s always better to get 170-180 after assessing the wicket than crumbling to 140-150,” stated Gill. With Sudharsan the first player to cross 500 runs in the season and Gill also entering the top five run-scorers, GT’s batting continues to tick – and with a dangerous bowling unit, that is proving to be enough.