With two wins and two losses Gujarat Titans are in sixth place, and the team has been largely good. But then largely good might not be good enough at this level, and they really need to elevate their performances here. Now, on Friday, they will be up against KKR in their fifth match, and the idea will be to continue the winning momentum that they got in the last couple of matches. But can easily gauge, it is not their best playing XI.
There are still players in the team, whose roles are not clearly defined, and they should probably be replaced by specialists. Insidesport takes a look at the predicted playing XI for GT vs KKR.
Get Buttler to open with Shubman Gill
Coming into the IPL 2026, there were form concerns with Jos Buttler, who had failed miserably in the T20 World Cup. But in the IPL this year, he has been among the runs. He is GT’s highest run-getter so far, scoring 176. He should open with Gill, who has scored 165. On the other hand, Sai Sudharsan has struggled a bit, with 113 runs in 4 matches.
Middle order looks shaky
Washington Sundar already has a fifty to his name, while Glenn Philipps need to fire still. But then he is very capable of doing so. But there is a problem of a stable batter beyond that. Reliability might be missing but runs can still be scored. For GT, they might have to look at some all-rounders to strengthen the middle order.
Do GT need Shahrukh Khan and Rahul Tewatia?
There is always a debate around these two names, and if they should be in the team or not. Talking about Sharukh, he is a finisher who hardly gets a chance to bat, and numbers say so. This year he has scored 15 runs in 4 matches. And Tewatia has scored 34. He doesn’t even bowl now, and his last wicket came way back in 2021. So, why not get rid of them and give a chance to R Sai Kishore, Nishant Sindhu or Jason Holder.
GT will have to, or should maybe look beyond these two players. The problem is, their batting resources are so scanty…. As far as the bowling is concerned, there should be no changes. Prasidh Krishna is leading the charts with 10 wickets, Rashid has 5, Ashok Sharma and Rabada have four each.
Predicted GT XI vs KKR
Shubman Gill (C), Jos Buttler (WK), Sai Sudharsan, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, R Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj, Ashok Sharma, Prasidh Krishna.
Impact Sub: Nishant Sindhu.
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