Shubman Gill leads charge as well-rounded Titans eye another final: GT’s chances in IPL 2025

Gujarat Giants won the title in their debut season, finished runners-up in their sophomore and then were condemned to eighth spot in the third. Hardik Pandya’s sheer force of personality and his extraordinary performances with bat and ball were a huge part of their first two seasons and there is no doubt that they missed that in the third.

GT chose to let go of Mohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami, David Miller and Noor Ahmad, among other names ahead of the mega auction last year. At the auction itself, they went all out to acquire Jos Buttler, Kagiso Rabada and Glenn Phillips. With Rashid Khan already being there, GT’s set of foreign players they will be playing throughout the season seems set in stone. They also brought in Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna but whether they will have the outsized impact that Mohit had remains to be seen. All in all, GT were largely seen as having a good auction in

Strength: A well-rounded squad

Gujarat Titans really have filled every bracket that one would put in a T20 setup. They have strong top order options in captain Shubman Gill, Buttler and Sudharsan and a couple of ridiculously good finishers in Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan and Glenn Phillips, with Rashid Khan also quite capable of chipping in. Rashid will be expected to be as unplayable as ever with the ball in hand, although it has to be noted that he didn’t have the best of seasons last year. Siraj and Prasidh are effective prospects with the ball, with the former capable of winning matches on his own on his day. However, one can expect GT instead prioritising fitting their South African imports Rabada and Gerald Coetzee in the same eleven.

Weakness: Lack of a clear replacement for David Miller; loss in form

Well the latter of those two points mentioned in this sub-head is probably more accurately described as a vulnerability than a weakness. On paper, GT have some absolutely exciting prospects across the board but they weren’t too bad in that respect last season either. And yet, only two teams finished lower than them. More importantly, though, it seems quite unclear as to how GT will replace David Miller. The South African’s ability to both build and finish effectively made him quite a unique fixture in the GT squad and none of the batters they currently have, not even Buttler, have exhibited that kind of versatility.

Prediction

GT certainly have assembled one of the most well-rounded squads ahead of the 2025 IPL. Key players in this team have also exhibited good form in recent matches that they have played. It will be a real surprise if this team isn’t a contender for a top-two finish in the league stage and a place in the final.

Gujarat Titans Full Squad: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (Captain), Glenn Phillips, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Nishant Sindhu, Sherfane Rutherford, Mahipal Lomror, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Arshad Khan, Jayant Yadav, Karim Janat, Washington Sundar, Kumar Kushagra, Anuj Rawat, Jos Buttler, Gerald Coetzee, Manav Suthar, Gurnoor Brar, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Kulwant Khejroliya, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj