5 lessons I learnt from IPL winners, Gujarat Titans
The current IPL season saw the birth of a new prizewinner in the form of Gujarat Titans (GT) who won the first premium league that they competed in. As an IPL aficionado, I learnt several lessons from the Titan’s maiden shot which they converted into a win.
You don’t just need superstars to be a champion
Gujarat Titans showed that despite having very few stars in their team, they were the strongest. Other than the known names of Hardik Pandya and to some extent Rashid Khan, the team lacked big names. They invested a lot in players who had either been written off by the rest of the world or were not considered to be good enough by the other teams.
It's not over till it's over!
This is a famous line in cricket, and probably GT’s motto this year. Out of the total of 12 matches that they won, they clinched seven of them only in the last over of the game. Their three main finishers—David Miller, Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan—stood up in different situations and won the game from situations that were considered impossible by cricket watchers. Starting from hitting two sixes of the last two balls to beat Punjab Kings to wining the Qualifier 1 by smashing three straight sixes in the last over of the game, Gujarat Titans did it all. They remained in the chase till the last ball, trusted their six hitting abilities and managed to take on the top bowlers during crucial points of the game.
The power of a cool captain is immense
Hardik Pandya, who was going through a bad spell in his career before this season, was appointed the captain of Gujarat Titans. Many believed this new responsibility would only add to his batting and bowling woes. But who would have guessed that the man would soon be GT’s highest run scorer and take three wickets in the final to win the game for his side? Hardik Pandya showed a completely new side of himself that even cricketing legends like Ravi Shastri hadn’t seen before. The careless aggressive finisher now became the calm and composed anchor who still had the six-hitting abilities like before. As a captain he followed MS Dhoni’s ideology, that is to remain cool at all times. During the final, when his side lost two quick wickets at the start as they chased a small target, Pandya came in and had a brilliant partnership with Shubman Gill, getting his team back on track.
Have faith in seasoned players
Be it Wriddhiman Saha, Mohd Shami, David Miller or Matthew Wade, GT showed immense faith in these four experienced players who, many considered, past their prime. To start with Shami, the Indian fast bowler had an amazing season with 20 wickets to his name, one of them being off the first ball he bowled this season. Next up was Saha who was introduced a bit late in the season. But once he got into the XI, the so-called test specialist showed his T20 version and scored a few crucial runs for his team. But the man who was one of the major reasons behind GT’s brilliant performance, was the man who had his best ever IPL season David Miller. Miller, who was considered way past his prime, made an amazing comeback and remained Not Out in 10 matches, finishing off many of them. Miller scored 481 runs with an amazing average of 68 and an unmatchable strike rate of 142.
Overcoming pressure is the key to success
The Tata IPL winners gave it their best under pressure in almost all their encounters, with matches reaching the last over. But the way the batsmen kept their calm and did not succumb under this pressure was phenomenal. In the final as well, the way Gill and Pandya handled the innings in the middle showed how mentally strong they were. A lot of the credit for this goes to the coaching staff as well who have helped the players develop such an ideology and help them train for such situations. No wonder their main finisher Rahul Tewatia is called the “ICEMAN”.
Viraj Bhatnagar is a student of Ridge Valley School.