The presence of Jos Buttler bolsters Gujarat Titans’ batting department, even though captain Shubman Gill indicated that the team management is yet to decide on the batting position for the England star.
Previously, Buttler opened the innings for Rajasthan Royals and in his long stint in the IPL, he has batted across positions. “If you have someone like him (Buttler) in your team, no team would think of it as a problem. We have all seen what he has done in T20 cricket for England and in the IPL, and in the previous series, he batted at No.3, so I don’t think there is any problem with him batting at different numbers,” Gill said on the eve of the campaign opener against Punjab Kings.
“We haven’t decided at which number he will bat, maybe we will get to know about it tomorrow during the match, but over the course of 8-9 years that he has played IPL, he has played at different numbers and he has performed. So, I don’t see that as a problem for us,” the captain said.
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While he admitted that the team failed to make the most of the Powerplay last season, Gill is hopeful that his strong line-up, comprising Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj and Rashid Khan, will make the difference.
“We have covered all the bases, we have good depth in the batting, we have some very good fast bowlers. The IPL is a kind of a tournament where everybody focuses on scoring 250, 260, 270, but it’s the bowlers that win you matches, it’s the bowlers that help you not concede those many runs,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter how many runs you score, if you concede those. Our philosophy is to have a really strong and stable bowling side. Hopefully, we are hoping that we will be able to play the same bowling attack for the 14 games, but if anything happens we have a good backup as well,” the captain said.
After a forgettable outing as a captain last season, where the Titans failed to make the playoffs, Gill wants to approach things differently. “It’s like an overall growth that I would want to have within myself as a captain, maybe it could be talking with the players off the field or it could be having those one on one conversations with them where they open up to you, where they tell you what are the areas that they want to improve or what are the areas that I want them to be able to improve to help my team,” he said.