3 players GT must retain ahead of IPL 2025 ft. Sai Sudharsan
The Gujarat Titans (GT) had a disappointing 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign. They finished eighth in the standings, with only five wins from 14 league matches, and failed to impress at any stage of the tournament.
After winning the 2022 edition and making the final in 2023, the Titans were expected to be among the contenders for the top four despite losing out on Hardik Pandya. However, that was far from the case as Shubman Gill failed to rally his troops and make a late playoff push.
Nevertheless, the fact that the mega auction is upon us will give GT a chance to rebuild. They have a decent core to build around, with a good blend of experience and youth in their ranks.
On that note, here are three players GT must retain ahead of IPL 2025.
#3 B Sai Sudharsan
This might seem like an unorthodox choice right now. Sai Sudharsan's T20 game isn't in its final form yet, with the batter's intent and ability to clear the boundary at will sometimes coming under question over the last two IPL seasons.
However, GT need to make some bold moves when it comes to their young players. Just like how the Kolkata Knight Riders should have retained Gill at a time when his T20 game seemed at a similar stage, the Titans need to trust that Sai Sudharsan will be able to turn it around soon.
There's no reason why the left-hander won't be able to. He's an assured player of both pace and spin, with shots on both sides of the wicket. Sudharsan is also an extremely consistent batter and rapid between the wickets.
Sai Sudharsan is one of the batters with the highest ceilings in the IPL, and letting him go into the auction pool could turn out to be a massive error on GT's part.
#2 Shubman Gill
The man who took over from Hardik Pandya as the captain of the franchise, Shubman Gill is bound to be retained by GT ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. The young batter has even been earmarked to become India's white-ball captain, having led the team in recent assignments.
Gil had a rather underwhelming campaign in IPL 2024 and couldn't be as consistent as he'd have liked. However, like Sudharsan, he is a player of immense potential, with the ability to play both pace and spin at a high level. Moreover, the 25-year-old impressed all with his leadership and eloquence in post-match presentations during the last season.
Gill is a generational talent and needs to be backed through thick and thin.
#1 Rashid Khan
Ahead of the 2022 IPL mega auction, the SunRisers Hyderabad made a massive error by allegedly not paying Rashid Khan the money he wanted. Reports suggest the Orange Army wanted Kane Williamson as the No. 1 retention. However, teams are never going to let that happen as the Gujarat Titans snapped him up in the pre-auction draft.
Rashid has been expectedly world-class since then, having delivered the Titans a title and a final appearance. While his bowling has regressed slightly over the last two campaigns, he is still a world-class operator and can be guaranteed to produce overs under an economy rate of eight for the season.
Rashid is also a more than handy batter, as he has proved on multiple occasions in the IPL. As one of the world's best T20 players, he must be tied down at any cost.