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Gujarat Titans (GT) batting coach Matthew Hayden did not seem pleased with Washington Sundar’s shot selection in the unsuccessful run chase against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on April 4. In their home clash, GT failed to chase down the target of 211 in their captain Shubman Gill’s absence. Sundar arrived at the crease in the 13th over when GT were 127/3. GT were in control of the run chase. Sundar hit Ravi Bishnoi for a four down the ground and went for an aerial shot again, getting caught in the deep by Ravindra Jadeja. While Hayden understands why Sundar attacked Bishnoi, he feels that there is a need to be more cohesive in run chases.
"Washy Sundar, he had a pretty big decision to make at that point around if you're going to attack someone like Bishnoi, who was on a roll. That was maybe a choice that he can look at and will look at as well in terms of just trying to be a little bit more cohesive in our run chases, because it has to be said there wasn't a lot that went wrong in that first 12 overs. There was plenty of great stuff," Hayden said in the post-match press conference.
A few overs later, GT lost the wicket of Shahrukh Khan as him and stand-in captain Rashid Khan looked to sneak an extra run from Jadeja despite getting a couple of runs already from that delivery. Hayden feels that the wickets of Sundar and Bishnoi made the difference in the run chase. He expects better planning from GT’s batting unit in the future run chases.
"The run out [of Shahrukh Khan] was something that, again, was a decision which Shahrukh and Rashid had to make at the time. I haven't broken down that play because as a coach you tend to kind of look at the ball, but I'll be interested also to see the approach when we get back to vision of how that run was executed. It certainly looked at from the sideline that Jaddu [Ravindra Jadeja, at the extra-cover boundary] bumped the ball quite a long way away from him and to regather, as we know, he's so quick and he's so good at getting and releasing the ball.
"But there's two wickets straightaway that would have been the difference. Again, we're talking about six runs. So those little things in T20 cricket, when you're chasing down a big total, which we were, they become vital in the decision-making process of a batting unit."
GT 5 wickets down for 34 runs
GT went from 127/2 in the 13th over to 161/7. Rashid and Kagiso Rabada revived the run chase, taking the equation to 15 runs from last two overs. But, Jofra Archer and Tushar Deshpande bowled a four-run over each to deny GT a victory at home. GT have lost both their games this season so far. Meanwhile, there is a question mark over Shubman Gill's participation in next match.
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