Former South African Pacer Shaun Pollock is impressed by Gujarat Titans’ performance in this edition of the Indian Premier League, calling them the Manchester City of the IPL. The defending champions are on a roll since their debut in the cash-rich winning the IPL in the inaugural season and making it into the playoffs for the second consecutive season in 2023.
Hardik Pandya-led side has performed exceedingly well, as they are the first team to qualify for the playoffs with a whopping ten wins from 14 league matches, with all the players putting their hands to perform for the team in the crunch situations.
The defending champions are all set to take on the four-time champions Chennai Super Kings for a place in the grand final, Speaking ahead of Qualifier 1, Shaun Pollock hailed them as the Manchester City of the IPL and praised them for their domination in the league stage.
“We’ll probably have to call them the Manchester City of the IPL at the moment, Look at the net run-rate, plus 0.8. Not only have they been winning, but they’ve been winning in style. They must go in with a lot of confidence. I mean it’s always a difficult part of the tournament now,” Shaun Pollock said.
The 49-year-old believes the real challenge will start from now for the defending champions as they can start feeling the pressure in the knockout games of this season especially if they failed to win Qualifier 1 against Chennai Super Kings in Chepauk.
“You think over the last ten days they’ve already qualified for the first playoff game and they haven’t had to deal with pressure. Then all of a sudden you go back and you go do or die. Not in the first game, but obviously in the second. So at some stage, they have to face the reality that they could get knocked out,” he said.
In their inaugural season, Gujarat Titans performed consistently throughout the league and finished the league stage at the top of the points table with 10 wins from 14 games. They then went on to beat Rajasthan Royals in the Qualifier and the final to lift the title under Pandya’s captaincy.
Different Environment Or Curveball That Gets Thrown Into The Equation – Shaun Pollock
Shaun Pollock reckons that playoffs are entirely a different ball game as any dip in their performance can see them knocked out of the contest and said that the team looked calm and composed throughout the tournament so far.
“And that’s the only different environment or curveball that gets thrown into the equation, but for the rest of it they’ve been calm throughout the tournament and they’ve looked really good,” Shaun Pollock added.
Defending Champions Gujarat Titans will look to take confidence from league stages into the playoffs and they will take on Chennai Super Kings in Qualifier 1 on May 23 in the famous MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk.
So far, only two teams – Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians – have managed to defend their titles in the cash-rich league winning back-to-back IPL trophies. It will be interesting to see whether Gujarat Titans can replicate the historic feat achieved by this legendary team if they managed to play the final in front of their home crowd.