The 'void' that saw GT's season of promise disintegrate

It had always been a worry, even when the Gujarat Titans (GT) were on a roll: their top three - B Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, and Jos Buttler - did almost all the scoring. The rest of the batters were undercooked, and it hurt them in their last two league games and then again, when it mattered most, in the IPL 2025 Eliminator. Tom Moody, reflecting on the loss to Mumbai Indians (MI), called it a "void", adding that Rahul Tewatia and Sherfane Rutherford had failed to do what they're in the team for.

Basically, they didn't do what David Miller did in 2022 when GT won the title in their debut season.

"Tewatia has always been that guy who's come in in the last two, max three, overs and played a blinder. At a very crunch time, yes, but he's never been one of those guys... for example, David Miller was the guy, he was the Rutherford. He would come in with six-seven overs to spare, build his innings nicely, and when he was set, he wasn't missing a slot ball. There was no chance David Miller was going to miss a slot ball," Varun Aaron said on ESPNcricinfo's Time Out on the season where Miller scored 481 runs at an average of 68.71 and a strike rate of 142.72.

"He was that guy that year, and that's why GT won that final. Because there were quite a few matches where the top order had set it up nicely for Miller; Miller would take it deep and finish it. This year, Rutherford has not been able to do that on more than two or three occasions."

Tewatia was, perhaps, a bigger disappointment. In 12 innings, he scored 99 runs from 59 balls, and remained unbeaten just four times, but in the Eliminator hit only one six and one four in his 11-ball stay. Both he (SR 167.79) and Rutherford (157.29) have scored quickly all season, but haven't had a lot of batting time. The GT top-three often left them with not much to do, but on Friday, when Rutherford got in with 6.2 overs to go and Tewatia, later, with 4.2 overs to go, they had an opportunity. They hit five fours and a six between them as GT fell 20 short. M Shahrukh Khan, the other man in that middle order, batted just 100 balls in 11 innings, and had just one good knock to show for it.

"I sort of bag Rutherford with Tewatia. I think they both have similar roles. Slightly different players - one is more of a six-hitter than the other. But between them they faced 26 balls today, and hit one six. That, to me, just tells it all," Moody said. "They are batting right at the back end of the innings, where the currency is boundaries. It's either fours or sixes, it's not ones and twos. Currency is boundaries, and that's what they train for. And that was their moment to at least add three to that one, and that may have been the difference."

On Friday, Washington Sundar came in for a fourth quick, which had been another problem area for GT, and while he bowled just one over, made a big impact with the bat, scoring 48 from 24 balls from No. 4.

"With regards to their batting, I suppose Washington stepped up today for that particular role, but they are missing a quality Indian top-order/middle-order player that can fill that void," Moody said. "If they can find that, it will certainly make a big difference to the balance of their side."

As written on ESPNcricinfo before, after GT had conceded 664 runs in three games after the IPL's resumption - two of which they lost - the bowling unit appeared to be "losing form at the wrong time". That trend continued. This time, MI scored 228 and to compound their woes, there were three important catches dropped. Rohit Sharma cashed in on two of those drops with a 50-ball 81. In the second over, Gerald Coetzee dropped him off Prasidh Krishna. Kusal Mendis spilled Rohit behind the stumps off Mohammed Siraj in the next. Mendis dropped another catch in the 12th over, off Suryakumar Yadav with Coetzee the bowler.

"After [Rohit] got those couple of lives, it just woke the dragon in him and he [was] like, 'you know what, I'm just going to go hell for leather,'" Aaron said.

Moody explained how those early reprieves would have freed Rohit up: "It unlocks a bit of freedom in your head. Regardless of the experience that Rohit Sharma's got, he's still going into this contest with a little bit of doubt, uncertainty. Once you get that lifeline, it really unlocks that worry of, 'oh, my record in finals is poor', and suddenly, you think, 'damn it, it's my day today, I'm going [for it].'"

GT did many things right this season but shabby bowling and catching, alongside a batting line up with a void saw it all unravel in the back-end of the competition.