Gujarat Titans fielded a team with only two overseas players in their XI for their IPL match against RCB today (April 2).
Gujarat's XI in Bengaluru only contained Jos Buttler and Rashid Khan as the overseas players. It marked a wholly different side than what they fielded in their previous match against Mumbai Indians – which they lost by 36 runs – which featured both Sherfane Rutherford and Kagiso Rabada. In addition to Rutherford and Rabada, Gujarat also have Gerald Coetzee, Karim Janat and Glenn Phillips as overseas players in their squad.
Match 14, Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Gujarat Titans
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Why is Kagiso Rabada not playing against RCB?
The most obvious omission from the XI is Rabada, who has played both of Gujarat's games so far in this year's competition. It was announced at the toss that Rabada is missing the game due to personal reasons.
The South Africa quick has endured expensive outings in both of those matches, returning figures of 1-41 against Punjab Kings and 1-42 against Mumbai. However, rather than replacing him with compatriot Coetzee, who they picked up for INR 2.4 crore in the auction, they instead picked Arshad Khan.
Arshad featured in Gujarat's opening game against Punjab King's but did not in their second against Mumbai. He conceded 21 runs off just one over in that match. Reasons for his inclusion over that of Coetzee could be to do with wanting a left-arm angle to counter the threat of Virat Kohli in the powerplay, a theory made more convincing as Arshad took the new ball and dismissed Kohli with the fourth ball of his first over. Arshad also provides an option for lower-order hitting if the situation requires it. There are also still some doubts over Coetzee's fitness, although his availability status has not been confirmed.
Why are Gujarat playing with only two overseas players?
Once the decision to bolster their fast-bowling attack with Arshad over Coetzee was made, the decision remained over other overseas players in the XI. In their previous game against Mumbai, they opted to play Sherfane Rutherford for middle-order power, before subbing him out to bring in Ishant Sharma for their bowling innings. It remains an option for them in Bengaluru, to bring Rutherford in as a sub once their bowling innings is complete.
Another option Gujarat had at their disposal before the match was to bring Phillips into the middle-order. Phillips provides options for spin with the ball as well as power-hitting. However, the decision to bolster the bowling, with six out and out bowlers in their side, won out. If they want to bring in middle-order overseas muscle, one of Phillips or Rutherford will have to come in as an impact player for a bowler in the second innings.
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