GT assistant coach responds to LSG chief Tom Moody’s ‘predictable’ jab before Qualifier 2 vs RR

The Gujarat Titans (GT) are predictable. They prepare bowling-friendly pitches at home, try to score around par by relying on their ultra-consistent top three, select highly skilled bowlers, and win. It’s worked for them since 2022. No one has a better winning record than Gujarat since their inception in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Gujarat Titans’ predictable bowling

But this means planning against them is easy, and they have an upper limit. You know, if you post a big total, their top three will be forced to go hard and err. Once that happens, their paper-thin middle order will most certainly fail. Similarly, in the bowling department, they rely on bowlers who hit the pitch hard, swing, and seam the ball.

Barring Jason Holder, Gujarat don’t have bowlers who have variations. No one, except the West Indian all-rounder, delivers slower balls or cutters. On bowling tracks, this works, but on flatter tracks, like against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Dharamshala, it can go pear-shaped quickly.

After Gujarat lost to Bengaluru, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) Director of Cricket, Tom Moody, who’s currently working for ESPNcricinfo, stated the same. Moody compared Gujarat to Sunrisers Hyderabad, who are similar in the batting department with no real variety.

“They don’t have the real extreme change-ups of pace and variety. They do become predictable for that. It’s a bit like Sunrisers (Hyderabad). As soon as the Sunrisers are put on a surface that’s doing a bit, that batting line-up really struggles. So, it’s the complete opposite,” Moody said.

The Gujarat Titans will play the Rajasthan Royals on a surface where 220 is the average first innings total | Image Credit: AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia via Alamy

‘Results are there for everyone to see,’ Parthiv Patel responds

GT assistant coach Parthiv Patel was asked about the comment. The former Indian wicketkeeper batter simply stated that their ‘predictable’ methods have worked. They finished second, after Bengaluru and qualified for Qualifier 1. Moreover, they’ve reached the IPL Playoffs in every season barring 2024. They don’t care about what others think. Their method works. They’ll try to beat the Rajasthan Royals using the same tactics in Qualifier 2.

“We were sitting pretty at number 2 in the points table. I know other teams can think whatever they want to. 6 teams have not qualified, and I know that the references which you have come from, that I know Tom Moody has said about GT,” Parthiv told reporters in Mullanpur.

“We know what kind of cricket we want to play and back ourselves to give results. Since GT’s inception, four out of five years, we have qualified. Results are there for everyone to see. Everybody has their own different way of playing. We have our own style of playing. Even in the first half of the tournament, we were not doing that great. We were just doing okay. But we still stuck to our process. We trust in our ability. We know what we can do. And that is something which we will try to do tomorrow as well,” he added.

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