Gujarat Titans have done a lot of things right since joining the IPL in 2022. They won the title in their very first season, reached the final in 2023, and made it back to the final again in 2026. That kind of record speaks for itself. But if you look closely at how they play, especially in IPL 2026, one problem keeps showing up, their middle-order simply does not do enough.
And no, this is not just about one bad final. This is a pattern that has been building for three seasons now.
The Top Order Carries Too Much
Let’s start with what GT does well. Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan were two of the best batters in IPL 2026. Gill scored 732 runs, Sudharsan scored 722. Both were consistent, both were reliable, and both were the first names opposition captains wanted to get out. That tells you everything about how much GT depended on them.
When they batted deep into the innings, GT looked like a strong side. The runs flowed, the total was defendable, and the bowling attack, one of the best in the league, could do its job. But the moment either of them got out early, the whole batting line-up started to look shaky. That is not a healthy sign for any team.
A good T20 side needs runs to come from multiple places. If your number one and number two are carrying the entire batting effort, then your number three, four, five, and six are not doing their jobs. In GT’s case, that has been the truth for a while now.
What the Numbers Actually Say
The numbers from IPL 2026 are hard to ignore. GT’s middle-order, the batters coming in at positions three through six, roughly, scored just 865 runs across the whole season. That was the lowest among all ten teams. Their strike rate of 143.21 ranked sixth out of ten. They hit just 33 sixes, which was the lowest six count in the entire tournament.
For comparison, SunRisers Hyderabad’s middle-order scored 1,194 runs and hit 69 sixes. RCB’s middle-order scored 1,173 runs at a strike rate of 170. These are not small gaps, these are massive differences that directly affect how many runs a team can put on the board.
T20 cricket, especially in the death overs from the 16th over onwards, is often won or lost by batters who can hit hard and hit often. GT’s middle-order, going by these numbers, was simply not built for that kind of aggression.
The Shahrukh Khan Gamble That Did Not Pay Off
Before the 2026 season started, GT picked up M Shahrukh Khan for Rs 4 crore at the auction. On paper, it made sense. Shahrukh is known as a hard-hitting finisher, the kind of player who can change a game with a few big shots in the final overs. GT clearly felt he was the answer to their middle-order question.
But it did not work out. In nine matches, Shahrukh scored just 43 runs at a strike rate of 130.30. For a finisher, that strike rate is not good enough. After April 30, he was dropped from the playing XI entirely and did not return for the rest of the season. GT had paid good money for someone they hoped would be a match-winner, and instead they got very little in return.
This kind of investment going wrong hurts a team in two ways. First, you lose the player’s contribution. Second, you also lose a spot that could have gone to someone else. GT essentially carried a batter through most of the season who was not helping them win games.
Tewatia: From Hero to Passenger
Rahul Tewatia was once one of the most exciting finishers in the IPL. His knock against Rajasthan Royals in 2020, where he hit five sixes in one over from Sheldon Cottrell, is still talked about. When GT signed him, they believed they had a finisher who could win games from tough situations.
In IPL 2026, he scored 190 runs in 16 matches at a strike rate of 143.94, with one fifty-plus score. While that strike rate is not terrible, it is not what you expect from a designated finisher in modern T20 cricket. The bigger issue is that Tewatia did not bowl a single over in the entire 2026 season, in fact, he has not bowled in the IPL since 2023. That means GT were playing him purely as a batter, which reduces his overall value to the team significantly.
When you have a player who bowled regularly for you in the past but no longer does, and whose batting numbers are just average, you start to question whether that spot in the XI could be better used.
Washington Sundar: Solid but Not Explosive
Washington Sundar had a decent IPL 2026 season by most standards. He scored 377 runs in 17 matches at a strike rate of 150.20. He was the most reliable of GT’s middle-order batters and held the innings together on multiple occasions.
But here is the problem: holding the innings together is not always enough. In T20 cricket, the death overs demand batters who can score at 180 or 200 or sometimes even higher. Sundar is a smart cricketer, he reads the game well, rotates the strike, and does not throw his wicket away. However, he is not someone who consistently takes the attack to the opposition in the final five overs.
GT needed someone who could do both, stay calm under pressure and also go after the bowling when needed. Sundar does the first part well, but the second part remains a gap.
This Is Not a One-Year Problem
Here is the most important point in this whole discussion: GT’s middle-order weakness is not something that just appeared in 2026. It has been there since 2023, and the team has not found a real solution yet.
Since 2023, Tewatia leads GT’s middle-order run charts with 564 runs across multiple seasons. Sundar follows with 510. No middle-order batter in GT’s squad has crossed even 600 runs across those seasons combined. That is a long time to go without finding a reliable middle-order batter who makes the position his own.
GT have also tried multiple overseas players in the middle order over the years. Glenn Phillips, Jason Holder, and others have come and gone. None of them became the kind of explosive, game-changing batter that the best T20 teams have. It is not that these are bad players, they are quality cricketers. But GT have not been able to find the right fit for that specific role.
The Final Was the Perfect Example
The 2026 IPL final against RCB showed exactly why this matters. GT were dismissed before they could set a big enough total. Solanki himself said after the match that GT were “probably 20-25 runs short.” That gap, 20 to 25 runs, is precisely what a better middle-order would have provided.
In a final, every run matters. A proper finisher, someone who can hit three or four boundaries in the last two overs, could have changed the entire result. RCB defended the target, and GT went home as runners-up. Again.
It is also worth noting that the opposition always targeted Gill and Sudharsan’s wickets more than anyone else. That is a strategic problem. If the opposition knows that getting two wickets essentially breaks the batting line-up, they will plan accordingly. And in the final, that is exactly what happened.
What GT Does Well, And Why That Makes the Gap More Obvious
GT’s bowling attack is genuinely one of the best in the IPL. They have pace, variety, and experience. Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Rashid Khan, that is a world-class combination. Very few teams can match that kind of bowling strength.
That is actually what makes the middle-order problem stand out even more. When you have a bowling attack that can defend almost any total, the batting side’s job becomes simpler, just score enough runs. But GT’s middle-order has not been doing that consistently.
Imagine a car with a very strong engine but weak brakes. The engine alone cannot win a race if the brakes keep failing at the wrong time. GT’s bowling is that strong engine. But the middle-order has been the weak brakes, and until it gets fixed, the team will keep falling short.
The Balance Question
The best T20 teams have balance all the way through their eleven players. The best batting sides do not rely on just two players at the top. The best teams have depth, if one player fails, another one steps up.
GT have that depth in bowling. They have it at the top of the batting order. But in the middle, it is missing. That is the honest truth about this team right now.
GT have reached two IPL finals in four seasons. They are a well-run franchise with smart leadership. Solanki, in the post-match press conference, chose not to discuss auction plans immediately, which shows the level of professionalism within the team. But the problem still needs to be addressed.
Finding a reliable middle-order batter, someone who consistently scores runs at a high strike rate and makes the position their own, is the single biggest thing GT need to do. Until that happens, GT will keep being a very good team that falls just short of being a great one.
The post Why GT Lost the IPL 2026 Final? The Batting Gap They Could Not Hide appeared first on Sportzcraazy.
from Cricket News & Updates | Today Cricket Rankings | Latest Match Schedule https://ift.tt/COAT3Lk
via IFTTT
0 Comments