All posts tagged: Batting strategy

Sai Sudharsan on why Gujarat Titans are not chasing 300 ahead of IPL 2026

Sai Sudharsan on why Gujarat Titans are not chasing 300 ahead of IPL 2026

4 min readMumbaiMar 27, 2026 05:30 PM IST With 300 increasingly becoming the number that defines ambition in T20 cricket, batting units are being judged as much on their ceiling as their consistency. Gujarat Titans (GT), on paper, possess one of the most formidable top threes in the competition – Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler – one that could chase down or even set those daunting totals. But inside the GT dressing room, the conversation is a little less dramatic. As Sudharsan put it on the eve of the season, the team isn’t chasing a number – it’s chasing the game in front of them. “It is all about playing to the conditions. It is all about playing the variables, playing the man rather than thinking from a predetermined mindset that we have to score 300, or we have to score so many runs to defend the game. We are not thinking it that way. We are thinking about it from a more versatile point. What the wicket is, what the bowlers are …

‘That decision was very good’: Nitish Rana on being promoted to No.3 in RR vs CSK match | Ipl News

‘That decision was very good’: Nitish Rana on being promoted to No.3 in RR vs CSK match | Ipl News

Nitish Rana who was promoted to No. 3 in the Rajasthan Royals batting lineup before the match against the Chennai Super Kings repaid the faith by the management by played a blistering 81-run innings on Sunday against CSK. The former Kolkata Knight Riders player said that he changed his game plan from the previous two matches and tried to use the pace of the Barsapara Cricket Stadium wicket to his success. “I got to know yesterday (Saturday) when Rahul sir called me before going to practice. Riyan also told me that I could bat at number 3. I guess, that decision was very good,” Nitish said at the post-match press conference. “In the first two matches, I was trying to hit hard. So, my learning from the last two matches was that if I try to use pace in this wicket, how much pace I can use on the new ball, if I try to do that, then my success rate can increase in making runs. And today, I did the same thing…,” he added. …

Champions Trophy: How Shreyas Iyer, Rohit Sharma are the faces of India’s risk management | Cricket News

Champions Trophy: How Shreyas Iyer, Rohit Sharma are the faces of India’s risk management | Cricket News

As pitches in Dubai seem to be getting slower with each outing, all eyes are on the Indian spinners. However, for India to go the distance a lot is riding on the batting unit, which so far has adapted exceptionally to the sort of tracks that have been their biggest undoing in recent times. With a century each to Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli, they have two in-form batsmen in the top three to go with Rohit Sharma to provide rapid starts. In the middle overs where they need to be flexible with their approach against spinners, they have a solid middle-order which includes an enforcer in Shreyas Iyer and two busy players in Axar Patel and KL Rahul before the finishing job is handed over to Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja. This is as good a top 8 as a team could get in these conditions where batting depth is absolutely a non-negotiable factor. But two of those, Rohit and Shreyas, strategically placed at the top and at No 4 provide the right sort …

India hope to avoid sluggish strike rates, confronted with New Zealand’s cloying spinners | Cricket News

India hope to avoid sluggish strike rates, confronted with New Zealand’s cloying spinners | Cricket News

Watching India’s batting group bat in the nets on this trip, one aspect that has stood out is how flexible they have been when it comes to preparing for the slow conditions they are facing in the middle. Across their sessions at the ICC Academy ground, they have been as random as a group can get, in terms of their approach. One moment, they are tonking the pacers and spinners out of the park; next moment they are nudging the ball here and there; then out of nowhere, they would show their imaginative side with reverse-sweeps, paddle sweeps and scoops. In two matches they may have had a comfortable outing in the middle, but there are tough challenges that lie ahead. They are yet to be tested while batting first, where they would be forced to take a lot more risk than they are used to, in search of a good total to defend. On Sunday, with their place in the semifinals secured, India are set to face New Zealand who irrespective of when the …

Champions Trophy, India vs Pakistan: How Hardik Pandya plotted Saud Shakeel’s exit | Cricket News

Champions Trophy, India vs Pakistan: How Hardik Pandya plotted Saud Shakeel’s exit | Cricket News

Middle overs, slumberous surface, batsmen in mood for building the innings forward rather than blazing boundaries, a medium pacer needs to plough deep into his cricketing wisdom to poach a wicket. Hardik Pandya, his knack of setting-up batsmen less celebrated, psychoanalysed Saud Shakeel and hung a clever ruse. Saud is an instinctive puller of the ball and backs himself to take on the fielder. Unlike some of his Asian brethren, he goes really back in the crease and swivels his body to get the control and placement. So when Hardik went short, the third ball of the 33rd over, he imperiously pulled him towards the fence. The next ball was slow, short of length and outside the off-stump which he thudded to point for no runs. The next though was the heavier short ball, not on his body as last time, but outside the off-stump. So far used to the un-distressing pace of Hardik, he pulled him without any hesitation. The ball came quicker, got a tad big on him, and he mistimed the ball …

Shubman Gill, Mohammed Shami, and spinners star as India beat Bangladesh in spin-friendly conditions | Cricket News

Shubman Gill, Mohammed Shami, and spinners star as India beat Bangladesh in spin-friendly conditions | Cricket News

It was the start that India needed to kick off their Champions Trophy campaign. Despite having all the arsenal that makes them a formidable white-ball outfit, there were a few doubts coming into the tournament especially against a spin-heavy attack. And through the course of their six-wicket win against Bangladesh, India went about ticking all the boxes, showing their blueprint could after all be foolproof in these conditions in Dubai where other teams are likely to struggle to get used to the nature of the surfaces. More importantly, in the afternoon Mohammed Shami rediscovered his rhythm and their spin formula showed it would work wonders in these slow conditions, more so if they get a chance to bowl first. In the evening, a fluent Shubman Gill scored his second successive century in as many games, showing why there shouldn’t be any doubts over his spot in the ODI side. The batting depth — even if it means there is only one spot for their two X-factor bowlers Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy – is absolutely …