Gujarat Titans will be squaring off against five-time champions Mumbai Indians in their next IPL 2023 match on Tuesday. The defending champions pulled-off a thrilling win against Lucknow Super Giants in their previous clash, where they defended a low total of 136. In the match, debutant Noor Ahmad and Mohit Sharma were the pick among the bowlers as they scalped two wicket each. Noor was given his debut cap in the absence of Alzarri Joseph. As Joseph is fit to play, he is expected to take Noor's place in the Playing XI against MI.
While Mohit has been a revelation, veteran Mohammed Shami too has been among the wickets. However, skipper Hardik Pandya hasn't really fired with the ball, having picked up only one wicket so far.
Led by Rashid Khan, Gujarat's spin department looks potent with fellow Afghan wrist spinner Noor Ahmad and Jayant Thakur delivering under pressure against LSG.
If Jayant conceded just seven in his last two overs, Noor took two wickets for just five runs in his final two overs to set up the win for GT the other day. GT batters have chased down totals but they have been sometimes guilty of not being able to push the score in middle overs.
While Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill have scored runs at the top and Hardik top-scored in their last match, GT were about 10-15 runs short against LSG, mainly due to their slow batting in middle overs, something the team will need to address.
Also, GT might need to give their top overseas batter David Miller more time in the middle by promoting him up the order.
GT's Predicted XI against MI: Wriddhiman Saha(w), Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya(c), Vijay Shankar, Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph/Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma
(With PTI Inputs)