Gujarat Titans’ top three have contributed nearly 68 per cent of its runs in IPL 2026, while middle order batters like Rahul Tewatia (left) and Shahrukh Khan (not pictured) have not hauled 100 runs this season. | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Gujarat Titans’ (GT) spin-bowling coach Aashish Kapoor on Saturday backed his team’s middle-order to come good and emphasised the importance of persisting with the existing combination.

“It is very easy to make changes for any team. If that is the case, teams that are going for 240 should be changing bowlers every second game. And then 25 players will not be enough; will not be sufficient because every team has for that particular slot maybe just one or two players,” Kapoor said on the eve of his side’s game against Punjab Kings in Ahmedabad.

GT’s top three have done the bulk of the job once again this season, contributing nearly 68 per cent of its runs. Neither Shahrukh Khan nor Rahul Tewatia has hauled 100 runs this season, and both score at a strike rate of less than 130.

This has made the batting unit susceptible to sudden collapses, as was evident against Mumbai Indians, when GT was bundled out for just 100 runs while chasing 200. Kapoor put that down to a lack of extended spells in the middle.

“There were a few opportunities for Shahrukh Khan this year. But if you take the last two years, he has not had that many opportunities playing those kinds of balls. It was just a few in the end. And it is really difficult for a player, sitting and not getting any batting. Yes, this year he should have grabbed those two opportunities even if it was a lost cause in one of the matches,” Kapoor said.

“But Tewatia, in the last match, when the wickets had fallen, showed that he can play like a proper batsman. It’s just that in our team in the first two years, when we won, his batting was coming down the order. There were five overs, 50 to get. So, obviously, he had to go for the runs. The last game, he just needed to take some time to score and win the match, which he did,” he added.

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Kapoor also explained the decision to replace Prasidh Krishna, last season’s Purple Cap winner, with Arshad Khan.

“The way Prasidh Krishna was bowling, he was missing his lengths in quite a few games. So, we thought it’s better to give him a break, let him work on it and then get him back into the side rather than have him lose confidence game after game. Arshad was also bowling really well; he was ready from game one, and as things panned out, we had to make that change,” he said.

Punjab Kings not fretting over bowling

Last year’s runner-up, Punjab Kings, has conceded 200 runs in five of its seven completed games this season. It suffered its first loss in its last outing when its bowlers could not defend 222 runs.

Its bowlers have leaked runs in the PowerPlay and at the death, and bowling coach Trevor Gonsalves said that working better on judging matchups might prevent these lapses.

“Even we scored 200-plus totals. Cricket is in favour of the batters. Everyone is saying that we did not do a good job in the bowling unit. I don’t make anything of it. It is just that one day, RR played better. Yes, there are a few things we could have done,” he said.

“We need to just analyse what would be the best match-ups. What match-ups align best with their batters. We have played GT before. We know exactly what they are coming in with. And at the same time, we are working on our aspects and bettering on that. If you remember the last time we played GT, we got them quite quickly,” Gonsalves added.

Published on May 02, 2026