Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) Director of Cricket, Tom Moody, has said that Gujarat Titans (GT) bowlers are vulnerable the moment there is not much assistance for pacers from the pitch and conditions. Moody compared them to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and called them predictable, trying to trouble batters with hard lengths. The former Australian pacer feels GT are lacking a bowler like Lungi Ngidi who can use change of pace to outfox batters.
"When there's zero movement in the surface, that's when they're vulnerable, because they don't have the real extreme change-ups, you know, of pace and variety," Moody said on ESPNcricinfo TimeOut. "They do become predictable for that. It's a bit like Sunrisers [Hyderabad]. As soon as Sunrisers are put on a surface that's doing a bit, that batting line-up really struggles. So it's the complete opposite.
"You get the ball just nipping or swinging a little bit, and Siraj and Rabada - all the very best to you, because you're going to have a tough examination. This is a very, very flat surface. And we saw that in the powerplay. And they don't have the answers, they don't have the huge change-ups of pace, the deception, they don't have the [Lungi] Ngidi slower ball or something [making the batters] go reaching for it. They've got them, but they're not their trump card.
"Their trump card is when it's doing a bit and they can hit that hard length and create issues both on inside and on the outside of the bat."
GT's expensive pace attack vs RCB
GT's Rabada went for 54 runs from his quota of four overs. He got the wickets of Venkatesh Iyer and Krunal Pandya. Jason holder was the most successful bowler as he conceded 39 runs from four overs and got wickets of Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal in the ninth over. GT's strike bowler Mohammed Siraj was unimpressive as he went for 46 runs from three overs. Prasidh Krishna barely made an impact with Tim David's wicket and went for 53 runs.
GT skipper Shubman Gill made a surprise addition to the side when he picked Kulwant Khejroliya who played his last game six weeks ago. Khejroliya ended up conceding 31 runs from two overs. RCB ended up posting 254/5 on the board at Dharamsala’s HPCA Stadium.
GT’s pace battery in store
Meanwhile, GT had a few pace options waiting on the bench. Old horse Ishant Sharma is yet to get a game. Ashok Sharma with express pace has been benched as well. Arshad Khan didn’t find a place in the side. In addition, they have Gurnoor Brar in the side, the tall pacer who recently got his maiden Test call-up is yet to play a game this season.
For the Qualifier 2 in Mullanpur, GT may look to make changes to the lineup. Not just in bowling, their young batter Nishant Sindhu is yet to make a valuable contribution. While Kumar Kushagra, Anuj Rawat and Shahrukh Khan are batting options, they have left-arm spinners R. Sai Kishore, Manav Suthar and Jayant Yadav in the lineup as well.