"Gujarat has only one problem area" - Aakash Chopra on Gujarat Titans' loss to Punjab Kings in IPL 2022

Aakash Chopra has highlighted that the Gujarat Titans' (GT) batting is an area of concern for the franchise in IPL 2022.

The Titans were restricted to a score of 143/8 in Tuesday's (May 3) Indian Premier League game by the Punjab Kings (PBKS). Mayank Agarwal's side went on to win the match by eight wickets with four overs to spare to hand the Titans their second defeat of the tournament.

While reviewing the GT-PBKS clash in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra pointed out that the likes of David Miller, Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan have bailed the Gujarat Titans out of trouble multiple times. He observed:

"Gujarat won the toss and opted to bat first. But after that, Gujarat needs to bat well. Gujarat has only one soft spot, one problem area which we have discussed repeatedly that there is an issue in the batting. Miller and Tewatia save them and Rashid at times. If Shubman Gill and Hardik fire then fine else there is an issue."

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that the Gujarat Titans' batting mainstays Hardik Pandya and Shubman Gill have failed to fire in their last few encounters. Chopra elaborated:

"Hardik's first half was very good but he has single-digit scores in the last three matches. Shubman Gill's performance has gone down after the first two matches. He did score a few runs in the last match but not the same Shubman Gill. He got out while taking a non-existing single."

Gill has a highest score of 31 in the Gujarat Titans' last seven matches and has failed to reach double digits in four of these games. Pandya has managed a total of 14 runs in his last three outings.

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"Sai Sudharsan was brilliant" - Aakash Chopra on the positive in the Gujarat Titans' batting department

Sai Sudharsan was the only half-centurion in the Gujarat Titans innings [P/C: iplt20.com]

However, Aakash Chopra was all praise for the knock played by Sai Sudharsan. He said:

"Sai Sudharsan was brilliant. He played one match and was then dropped. He has come back now at No. 3 and he played with a very good temperament, played long and stayed till the end."

The 44-year-old lauded the youngster for taking the Gujarat Titans to a fighting, albeit a below-par, score. Chopra explained:

"He took the team to a fighting total because the way Gujarat were going, Hardik and Shubman had gotten out and David Miller was dismissed off a Livingstone delivery, they were stuck. It was difficult to proceed from there even though Rahul Chahar got injured. But it was not a total worthy of a win."

Sudharsan scored an unbeaten 65 off 50 deliveries, a knock studded with five fours and a six. He held the Titans' innings together while wickets were falling regularly at the other end.