Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden said that Gujarat Titans (GT) need their middle-order to fire if they want to succeed in the Indian Premier League (IPL). GT’s dependence on openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan was a major concern for them, opined the former cricketer.
Although he lauded their strong top-order, he also noted that the middle-order batsmen failed miserably except Jos Buttler. Matthew Hayden opined that GT should get rid of those who have not done well and concentrate on strengthening their middle-order during the forthcoming mini-auction in order to achieve balance.
“Gujarat Titans have a fantastic top order with captain Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan, who were the highest-scoring opening pair last season. However, their middle order struggled heavily, with only Jos Buttler performing consistently. This over-reliance on their openers became a clear weakness. In the mini-auction, GT should release underperforming players and those who didn’t get opportunities to rebuild their middle order effectively,” said Hayden in JioHotstar.
GT had a successful IPL 2025 season, ending third in the league stage with nine victories from 14 matches and making the play-offs for the third time in four years. But their road came to a screeching halt in the Eliminator as they lost to the Mumbai Indians (MI). GTs success was largely made possible by the jaw dropping performance of their young Indian openers who gave awesome starts match after match in the entire tournament.
Sudharsan was the top-scorer of the season with 759 runs and skipper Gill (650) wasn’t far behind him. Buttler also weighed in with 538 runs in the competition. And on the bowling front, GT continued to dazzle as Prasidh Krishna bagged 25 wickets in 15 matches and won the Purple Cap. Left-arm spinner Sai Kishore was also impressive, taking 19 wickets from 15 matches.
For the IPL 2026, GT are likely to release deadwoods and loosen up their purse strings and change strategy of fielding their playing XI through foreign recruits…and look for strengthening middle order so they can provide good balance in terms of team dynamics.
