Rashid and fourth seamer remain concerns but GT 'not massively off' ahead of playoffs

Gujarat Titans (GT) have now lost four matches in IPL 2025. In two of those, they have fallen short chasing mammoth targets - Punjab Kings (PBKS) scored 243 for 5 early on in the script, and on Thursday night, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) put up 235 for 2. The other two times, their high-powered batting line-up, in hindsight, put up below-par totals. To Varun Aaron, the issue when GT have lost has been their third (fourth) seamer, which "has been camouflaged by their great batting".

On Thursday, Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada and Prasidh Krishna were their main seamers. Arshad Khan was the fourth, and he went for 36 runs in his three overs. Only Rashid Khan was more expensive. Overall this season, Prasidh and Siraj - as well as Rashid and R Sai Kishore - have played all their 13 games, while Arshad (eight games, ER 9.21), Ishant Sharma (seven games, ER 11.18) and Kulwant Khejroliya (one game, ER 9.66) have filled in intermittently.

"I think the biggest problem GT have had throughout the whole season and that's been really camouflaged by their great batting is their third [or fourth] seamer," Aaron said on ESPNcricinfo's Time Out show. "Ishant Sharma was in and out. He was really expensive. Arshad Khan, again, was in and out, came back in now. Khejroliya played one game. So I think teams are going to look to go really hard against that third seamer.

"If they get a lot of runs against the third seamer, then Prasidh Krishna comes [in early] and goes a little searching for wickets because he has been that guy who has gotten them wickets. Exactly what happened today - the third seamer has gone for runs, and throughout the tournament that's been a pattern."

The bigger concern for GT, seeing that they have had Prasidh and Siraj doing well, might be Rashid. Never before has he been as expensive as he has been this season, going at 9.38 for his eight wickets. Before this season, the poorest economy rate Rashid had ever recorded in the IPL was 8.40 in 2024. Between 2017 and 2022, he had never gone at more than 6.73 in a season.

On Thursday, perhaps in acknowledgement of his poor returns this season, Rashid was brought into the attack only in the 12th over, when Mitchell Marsh was closing in on his century. Sai Kishore had bowled two overs by then. By the end, the two had combined returns of 5-0-70-1. The wicket - of Aiden Markram - wasn't against Rashid's name.

"It was late. Normally you see Rashid come in when you're in desperate need to strike. But that tells you maybe something about where the confidence is when it comes to Rashid Khan at the moment, not only from his own personal point of view, but also the captaincy's point of view. You know, we're not going to introduce him too early," Tom Moody, Aaron's co-panellist, said. "But Sai Kishore, you can't take too much away from him. He got the nod ahead of Rashid. He's still a very crafty bowler. But he was hit by a tidal wave today.

"He [Rashid] has taken time to find his rhythm again. Any bowler, whether you are a spinner or a pace bowler, coming back from a significant back surgery, it takes time. It's not only the mechanical side of things, it's confidence as well, that comes with that."

Aaron appeared to have spotted a specific problem in Rashid's bowling, caused, perhaps, by the surgery in late 2023. "If you look at his action, he's one of those bowlers where there's a lot of lateral flexion, and he really has to get the arm at the optimal position to bowl that fast googly. I don't think his googly is shooting off the wicket that fast anymore, which used to really surprise batsmen."

One other puzzle about GT's make-up on Thursday was the presence of Rabada in the XI ahead of Gerald Coetzee. Coetzee has played only two games and Rabada, who left after the first couple of games to serve a drug ban before returning recently, four. More importantly, Coetzee has an economy rate of 7.66 to Rabada's 11.57. Even more importantly, Rabada won't be around for the IPL playoffs. Coetzee will be.

"I would have thought that was definitely worth exploring," Moody said. "Unless there's some injury issue that we don't know, or illness. It would make sense that you'd have a look at him."

All said, Moody wasn't unduly worried about GT, who are still the table-toppers, though second-placed Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), who have a game in hand, are just one point behind.

"I wouldn't say they are massively off. We know Rashid Khan has taken time to get back to his best, and he's still not there post his surgery. If I was in GT's shoes, I wouldn't be reading too much into this game," Moody said. "There are some obvious areas they need to just sharpen up a little bit, but... it's one of those situations where you've been playing really good cricket and if you look back too hard at a loss at this stage of a season, you could get a little lost in a negative space.

"I think they are better off just trying to take positives moving forward, because we are right at the pointy end of the business and the last thing you want to be doing is over-analysing certain issues. And I am sure the likes of Rashid Khan is doing everything in his powers to recapture that consistency, which we've seen before, but there's no doubt that his effectiveness, particularly against right-handers, which is normally where he has dominated, has been a real struggle."