IPL 2025: Why Gujarat Titans Is Playing With Just 3 Overseas Players Vs PBKS?
Gujarat Titans fielded three overseas players against Punjab Kings in their IPL 2025 opener. GT won the toss and opted to bowl first at Narendra Modi Stadium.
Gujarat Titans (GT) have opted to go with just three overseas players — Jos Buttler, Rashid Khan and Kagiso Rabada — against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their IPL 2025 opener at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. It was more to do with the result of the toss and the impact player rule than any injuries, though.
GT skipper Shubman Gill won the toss and opted to bowl first. The team they fielded was extremely bowling-heavy heavy with six frontline options and two additional part-timers in Shahrukh Khan and Rahul Tewatia.
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They have two T20 batting superstars in their impact subs Sherfane Rutherford and Glenn Phillips and one of them will almost certainly be brought in for the second in. IPL rules only allow overseas impact players to be subbed in for Indian ones, which forces franchises to start with an extra Indian player in their first 11s.
Gujarat Titans Playing 11: Shubman Gill (C), Jos Buttler (WK), Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Arshad Khan, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna
Impact Subs: Sherfane Rutherford, Glenn Phillips, Ishant Sharma, Anuj Rawat and Washington Sundar
“We will bowl first," Gill said at the toss. “It is a good cricketing wicket. There is some dew here. Just keeping it in mind. Dew is a big factor here. Big targets can be chased down. Preparation has been amazing. We have our bases covered. The bowling attack is good. Very fortunate to play at the biggest stadium in the world. We have four pacers and two spinners."
Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer’s Punjab Kings went full strength with their batting. They had a key choice to make between experienced Australian wicketkeeper Josh Inglis and Priyansh Arya and went with the latter, which opened up the chance to bring Azmatullah Omarzai in the bowling attack.
Punjab Kings Playing 11: Prabhsimran Singh (WK), Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer (C), Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Suryansh Shedge, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal
Impact Subs: Nehal Wadhera, Praveen Dubey, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Harpreet Brar and Vishnu Vinod
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