Too many all-rounders in the team could be a concern for Gujarat Titans
Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants added more volume to the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction as they were added as new participants for this year's competition.
Unlike the Lucknow Super Giants, who managed to string together a squad during the auction, the Titans were caught wanting at times. Despite boasting a squad capable of challenging for the top four, serious doubts remain about their team composition.
- that’s the tweet! 
. @RGurbaz_21 ka andaaz 😍 - that’s the tweet!
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Despite roping some marquee signings in the form of Jason Roy, Rashid Khan, and Hardik Pandya, the rest of the squad is a bit unproven at this level. More importantly, the Gujarat side had to lose Roy, who pulled out of the tournament due to bubble fatigue. He was replaced by the Afghan keeper-batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
As has been the case with almost every other franchise this season, a lot of money has been spent on a wicket-keeper batter. Gujarat, for instance, has three prominent wicket-keeper batters in their ranks in Matthew Wade, Wriddiman Saha being top-rated and Gurbaz as a replacement.
However, once the squad was finalized, one area that has become a cause of concern for the franchise is the lack of specialist batters in the team. Shubman Gill and David Miller are the only ones in the squad who feature as specialist batters. The rest are wicket-keepers and all-rounders.
The Titans have a number of all-rounders in their squad
While many franchise teams have started copying the original West Indies model of fielding as many as nine all-rounders in the first eleven, this trend has back-fired.
As witnessed at the T20 World Cup, both Bangladesh and the West Indies, who came in with this combination, were eliminated in the group stages.
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In the recently concluded PSL, Karachi Kings also went with a similar combination. They had no specialist batters after their opening duo of Sharjeel Khan and Babar Azam. They could only manage a solitary win in their entire campaign.
Gujarat Titans run a similar risk in this edition of the IPL. Apart from Shubman Gill at the top and David Miller at five, they will have to rely heavily on their all-rounders to post them competitive totals on challenging wickets.
Hardik Pandya, Rahul Tewatia and Vijay Shankar will have to shoulder a bulk of this responsibility along with the wicket-keeper batter the team decides to field. It will be a tough ask for Gujarat as they look slightly depleted on paper in terms of their specialist resources.