Shubman Gill, captain of the Gujarat Titans (GT), believes that black dirt is better for his squad than red soil. On Saturday, March 29, the Titans defeated the Mumbai Indians (MI) by 36 runs in a match played on black soil. GT held MI to 160/6 after they scored 196/8 in their 20 overs, and Gill stated that he doesn’t want every game to be between 240 and 250.
Every squad, in my opinion, has unique strengths and preferred methods for playing a particular style of cricket. This type of surface, in my opinion, better suited our team’s overall strength in bowling and batting than on the red dirt. We simply do not want every game to be between 240 and 250 runs. Gill, who hit 38 off 27, stated, “I think that if there are such high-scoring games, the skill out of cricket, it takes away from that.”
“Before the first game, we made the decision to play on this wicket. We didn’t have enough time to get a red earth wicket ready. Therefore, it was determined that we would play this match on a black-soil wicket prior to the first match. The opposition was unrelated to it.
Prasidh Krishna (2/18) put a dent in MI’s batting order by dismissing in-form Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav after Mohammed Siraj had taken two wickets in the powerplay. Sai Sudharsan scored 63 off 41 in the first innings, and Gill and Jos Buttler also made strong cameos.
The way we began the power play was only one of several things. Reaching nearly 200 runs on this type of track gives us a lot of confidence going into the second innings. Everything went our way in this match, in my opinion, thanks to the manner we bowled in the middle and in the power play,” Gill remarked.
The top three batters scored 140 of the 196 runs, but Shubman Gill isn’t very concerned about the middle order.
“Middle order is an issue, but I don’t think so. I believe that even in the last game (against the Punjab Kings), Rutherford scored about 48 runs (46 in the middle order) despite the fact that we were chasing about 250 runs (243).
It’s a good beginning. Therefore, I don’t believe that the middle order is a worry for us at all.