Kolkata: Gujarat Titans have been racking up massive scores this IPL but Friday’s onslaught against Sunrisers Hyderabad felt different — they hardly had to play improvised shots. Both Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan aggregated strike rates of 225 after the Powerplay, staggering because they usually start on a cautious note. But they are also class batters meaning they don’t miss out on putting the bad balls away. And there was no shortage of that from the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers.

By the end of six overs, Titans had hit 13 fours and only two sixes, pointing to immaculate timing and placement from Gill and Sudharsan but also bad bowling from Sunrisers, something captain Pat Cummins admitted. “Our powerplay with the ball wasn’t great, probably let them get 20-30 runs extra,” he said at the post-match presentation in Ahmedabad. “Maybe hang on to one or two catches as well, I’m guilty there. Maybe chasing 200 on this wicket looks a bit more realistic.”

Particularly disconcerting was the way Mohammed Shami conceded 31 runs in the first two overs. Shami didn’t play the last IPL due to an ankle injury, for which he had to undergo surgery. So, the most recent comparison is that of IPL 2023 where he was the top wicket-taker with 28 scalps for Titans. But this season, Shami hasn’t completed his quota of four overs in six out of nine matches. And after Friday — he conceded 48 in three overs — his season’s tally stands at six wickets at an average of 56.17 and an economy rate of 11.23, easily his worst in IPL.

Shami is struggling with his control of line and length. Gill flicked him for six in the first over. In the next over to Sudharsan, Shami bowled short, wide, over-corrected his line by straying into his pads, again wide of off and again short. All were dispatched for boundaries. “They’re class batters,” Cummins said. “They don’t do anything outlandish. If you bowl bad balls they just put it away, and we probably dished out too many. They’re quality, they know this venue well, so yeah, we just weren’t quite at our best.”

Cummins himself bowled a half volley and two full, in-the-slot deliveries in the same over. Gill got 14 off those balls. Following over, Harshal Patel conceded four boundaries, all off deliveries asking to be hit. Jaydev Unadkat was the only bowler who showed a semblance of discipline, conceding 16 runs in his two overs during the Powerplay, ending with a highly creditable 3/35 in four overs. “We’ve had one or two really good games, like you saw in Chennai. There were some great catches taken there,” said Unadkat after the match. “But today was one day where it was all not coming together. When we are bowling well, we might not be fielding well, and when we’re actually fielding well or taking those catches, we might not be bowling well.”

Why Unadkat was made to bowl just two overs in the Powerplay when he clearly had a hang of the lengths to bowl wasn’t clear though. In the larger context of things, however, it probably wouldn’t have mattered. “From my experience of playing in IPL, for a team to do well, you need 3-4 guys in terms of your bowling who have to contribute in every game. This year we are lacking that,” said Unadkat. “When two guys are bowling well, the other three are probably not in tandem. When we look at partnerships in batting, it is the same with bowling as well because when you are not bowling well from both the ends, it creates unnecessary pressure on the other guy, and then the plans also change.”

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