Three games, 664 runs conceded - GT bowlers 'losing form at the wrong time'

Despite a sparkling run in IPL 2025, which made them the first team to qualify for the playoffs, Gujarat Titans (GT) find themselves grappling with an untimely dip in bowling form, a concern that could prove costly at the business end of the tournament. Known for their disciplined attack, GT's bowling unit has appeared unsettled after the mini-break. They have lost two of their three games after the IPL's resumption - after winning eight of 11 before the interruption - and in those, their bowlers have conceded 664 runs and picked up just ten wickets.

After their latest loss - by 83 runs to bottom-placed Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Sunday - Tom Moody singled out R Sai Kishore - the only one to have taken at least a wicket in each of those three matches - for his consistency, but noted that the absence of effective bowling partnerships have left GT vulnerable. While Prasidh Krishna - who has 23 wickets and is in second place on the Purple Cap table - and Mohammed Siraj have contributed, their recent performances have been a bit up and down.

"It is a concern that a number of their bowlers are losing form at the wrong time," Moody said on ESPNcricinfo's Time Out show. "Coming into the finals, one area of your game you want to be absolutely confident with is your bowling attack and everyone not looking over their shoulder but looking to take the responsibility themselves. And I look at their attack and really there's only one bowler that's bowling well and the rest are trying to find form.

"And that's probably being a little bit harsh on Sai Kishore because I think he's been quite consistent, but it's nearly like his bowling has been swept away along with many other bowlers purely because they haven't been able to build the most important thing, and that's those partnerships with the ball."

Anil Kumble echoed Moody's thoughts, and highlighted GT's struggles during the bowling powerplays, which have increased the pressure on the bowling unit, which has had perhaps its biggest name - Rashid Khan - in possibly the poorest T20 form of his career.

"When things have not started off well for GT in those first six overs, the pressure on the bowling attack has been pretty obvious," Kumble said. "That's where the Rashid wicket-taking ability is sort of missing now, and that's why they're probably struggling.

To counter this problem, Moody suggested that GT might need to think differently and even open with Sai Kishore.

"I just wonder, just sowing a seed for moving forward, whether they need to actually rearrange their bowling attack," Moody said. "Maybe do something out of the box, like open with Sai Kishore, you know, have an over or two of them. He's well-equipped to be able to do that, and it just gives them that little bit of a point of difference as a bowling unit."

Moody and Kumble emphasised the importance of staying calm and focused as GT approach the final stages of the tournament. In Moody's opinion, it was essential not to panic but to reflect on the strengths while working on small improvements quietly, away from the public eye.

"For all the teams, at this time, it's not the time to press that panic button," Moody said. "It's the time to reflect on what are we really doing well and focusing on those areas and highlighting them and celebrating those areas and just quietly going about trying to patch up a couple of gaps without it being sort of seen in a public domain, whether it be through the press or whether it be in the dressing room in front of the whole squad - 'we must be improving here and here and these are the gaps we're missing out on', you know, just quietly going around on a one-to-one basis and reassuring players but also just reminding them of a couple of areas that just might need a little bit of sharpening.

"Players need to have that sort of free mind and not sort of worrying about the consequences of what's happened in the past or what may happen if we fall down that same track as what we did in our last two games. So, again, it's preserving confidence, preserving the culture that you've built within that playing group. So you're celebrating that and you're trying to keep everyone upbeat and positive, because at the end of the day, there's a lot of tired bodies, there's a lot of mental fatigue there as well. So you need to be mindful of all those things to make sure that everyone's feeling really positive about what's ahead of them."

Kumble said that teams needed to recognise and celebrate the good work that got them to this stage of the tournament.

"I think what was important was also to look at all the good things that they've done to be here," Kumble said. "There were ten teams, all of them equally good. Yes, the points table says that Chennai [CSK] is No. 10, and then you have Rajasthan [RR] at nine, and the rest of them. But generally, if you look at it on paper, all of those teams are really, really good. It's just that one match here, there, things could have been different.

"So, you need to celebrate that and then look at whether it is Qualifier or Eliminator, whatever it is, one game at a time. Focus on that and then look at how well the team did in those important moments and try and win those key moments."