The upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) marks the start of a new leadership era at Gujarat Titans (GT). The 2022 champions will be led by young batter Shubman Gill following Hardik Pandya‘s trade to Mumbai Indians ahead of IPL 2024 mini auction. With mixture of youth and experience, the franchise made some sensible buys at the IPL auction. While the franchise roped in Australian pacer Spencer Johnson and veteran Indian fast bowler Umesh Yadav, GT also bought uncapped batter Shahrukh Khan for Rs 7.4 crore.
Ahead of the start of the new season, Nehra has backed Shahrukh to become the “main actor” for GT in the lower middle order.
“We’re going to see Shahrukh Khan become the main actor. IPL is a very long tournament,” Nehra told the media.
Nehra also emphasised that the players will have to take care of the body as the conditions will get tough during the latter stage of the tournament.
“It’s not like we’re playing just three, four, five matches. Conditions are also difficult in May and June. It will be hard on the players, especially fast bowlers. Injuries can also happen. So every player we have is important and those we have are experienced,” he added.
Nehra also said that new signings Johnson and Afghanistan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai will have to play a key role for the team.
“Spencer Johnson, if you see, wherever he’s played, he’s played well. Azmatullah Omarzai again, he has all the skills in this world as an all-rounder and we are very hopeful that they’ll have a great IPL,” Nehra explained.
Speaking on the type of pitches for their home games, Nehra said that they are yet to make a call on the same.
“We have not decided that but I don’t think so… In the end, you just have to play good cricket. Black soil or red soil, there’s not too much difference. It’s just a little bounce,” the former India pacer suggested.
GT Full Squad
Shubman Gill (c), David Miller, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, B. Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma, Azmatullah Omarzai, Umesh Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi, Manav Suthar, Spencer Johnson, Robin Minz
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