5 reasons why Gujarat Lions lost the IPL at the auction table

Gujarat Lions have had a dismal start to the IPL

‘The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.’ This quote by Norman Schwarzkopf applies perfectly to the present condition of Gujarat Lions as well.

The horrific start of Gujarat Lions in this IPL 2017 is not a mere result of their poor performance on the field but is also the result of their mismanagement and inadequate planning.

Boasting a strong squad, Gujarat Lions finished top of the points table after the league stage in last year’s IPL but in this edition, the team look toothless and is missing their previous prowess.

Along with injuries, the Lions are badly affected due to their poor choices in the 2017 auctions where they failed to add strength to their squad.

We look at the five grave mistakes Gujarat Lions made at the IPL auction table 2017. These mistakes have cost the team heavily and hence they have lost both their games so far in the series.

#1 No investment on experienced Indian pacer

In two matches so far in this season, Gujarat Lions have managed to pick up only one wicket. The prime reason for this abysmal bowling performance is the failure of their quick bowlers.

Before the 2017 auction, Gujarat had Praveen Kumar and Dhawal Kulkarni as their Indian pace bowlers. Both these pacers have little international success and their limitations in T20 are pretty evident.

Hence, the team management should have invested in an experienced Indian pace bowler to strengthen their bowling department. Instead, they went for lesser known young bowlers who had displayed promise in the domestic circuit.

The likes of Basil Thampi, Nathu Singh, and Shelley Shaurya were effective buys but they lack the experience of playing in pressure situations in the IPL. The Lions also bought Munaf Patel and Manpreet Gony, who have plenty of IPL experience, but again, these medium pace bowlers haven’t been effective in the last few seasons.

Hence, Lions had no choice but to field inexperienced Indian pace bowlers in this IPL and the outcome was that they failed miserably.