A ninth win in their 13th match of this IPL season, which will be against Sunrisers Hyderabad at home on Sunday, should be enough for the defending champions Gujarat Titans to book a spot in the playoffs after a rare slip in their last match.
A team that prides itself on consistency, GT will want to put the loss against Mumbai Indians behind them when they take on the Sunrisers, who are almost out of playoff contention with only four wins in 11 matches.
Barring Rashid Khan, who starred with both ball and bat against Mumbai Indians, the bowlers had a forgettable outing and no one had answers to the special hitting ability of Suryakumar Yadav.
Gujarat remain the table leaders and tend to quickly learn from their mistakes.
"As a group we weren't there. In bowling also we were very flat. Didn't have clear plans or didn't execute," skipper Hardik Pandya had said after their fourth loss in 12 games.
With the bat, the prolific top-order could not get going and despite a blinder from Rashid Khan at number 8, the Titans fell short. The star spinner was back at his best with the bowl to end up with his best figures of the season.
The skillful Mohammed Shami had a rare off day and he would be expected to conjure up magic with the new ball. Mohit Sharma, who was used in the middle and death overs earlier in the season, bowled with the new ball against Mumbai but the move did not play off.
Sunrisers, on the other hand, will be at the mercy of other teams after losing to Lucknow Super Giants from a winning position. They could not defend 80 runs off the last six overs with Nicholas Pooran playing a game changing innings.
The failure of the top-order and the star bowlers not performing as per expectations has let Sunrisers down this season. Anmolpreet Singh has replaced Mayank Agarwal at the top but is yet to make an impact.
1/10:IPL: Gujarat Titans look to seal play-off berth vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
AFP
2/10:Consistent Gujarat
<p>Gujarat Titans pride themselves on consistency and would be expected to produce a solid show against Sunrisers Hyderabad after a rare "flat" performance.<br /></p>PTI
3/10:Titans on the verge of playoffs
<p>Another win should be enough for defending champions Titans to seal a play-off berth while Sunrisers are all but out of the reckoning.<br /></p>AP
4/10:Rashid shines vs MI
<p>Barring Rashid Khan, the Titans bowlers had a forgettable outing vs MI and no one had answers to the special hitting ability of Suryakumar Yadav.<br /></p>AFP
5/10:Gujarat on top
<p>Gujarat Titans remain the table-toppers and tend to quickly learn from their mistakes.<br /></p>AFP
6/10:Skipper Hardik
<p>"As a group we weren't there. In bowling also we were very flat. Didn't have clear plans or didn't execute," skipper Hardik Pandya had said after their fourth loss in 12 games.<br /></p>AFP
7/10:Titans top-order failed vs MI
<p>With the bat, the prolific top-order could not get going and despite a blinder from Rashid Khan at number 8, the Titans fell short. <br /></p>AFP
8/10:Mohammed Shami
<p>Mohammed Shami had a rare off day and he would be expected to conjure up magic with the new ball. Mohit Sharma bowled with the new ball against Mumbai but the move did not play off.<br /></p>AFP
9/10:SRH are all but out
<p>Sunrisers, on the other hand, will be at the mercy of other teams after losing to Lucknow Super Giants from a winning position. <br /></p>TNN
10/10:Bhuvneshwar Kumar
<p>The failure of the top-order and the star bowlers not performing as per expectations has let Sunrisers down this season.<br /></p>IANSRahul Tripathi too has not set the stage on fire, having totalled 199 runs in 11 games at an underwhelming strike rate of 129.14. The skipper, Aiden Markram, has not led from the front with 207 runs from 10 games at a strike rate of 129.37.
The handling of pacer Umran Malik, who last played on April 29, has also been questioned.
The positive has been the performance of Abdul Samad, who is finally living up to his potential after years of promise.
(With agency inputs)
