New Chandigarh, May 28 (IANS) Gujarat Titans assistant coach Parthiv Patel said the team is confident of its bowling attack and its plans are in place to counter teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 Qualifier 2 against Rajasthan Royals, to be played at the New PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh on Friday.

Young Sooryavanshi’s match-up against GT’s new ball pair of Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada will be one of the biggest subplots in deciding who will face Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the title clash, to be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

“I am not a broadcaster right now, and I am not there on the pre-show of Star Sports. So I can’t tell you what plans I have made. But it feels really good about the way he is batting. Hopefully, we will try to get him out early in the game. As all the teams are planning, we have seen the videos.

“Hopefully, we will be able to execute our plans. But what it is, we will be able to tell you when we are on the ground. In the beginning, I had said that the way he has been batting is very good. Even last time, I said that we should not be talking about his age.

“I think that is something that we need to put an end to. He has been a phenomenal talent, just the way he has been playing, and it’s great to see. From the opposition’s point of view, we hope that he doesn’t get big runs tomorrow,” Patel said at the pre‑match press conference.

Asked about GT’s bowling line-up’s ability to bounce back after being hit all over the park by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru batters in Qualifier 1, Patel said, “We are quite confident about our bowling line‑up. You have named all of them. All of them are renowned bowlers in international cricket. That has been our strength also, picking up wickets early in the powerplay, and that is something which we will try to do tomorrow as well.”

He also said GT, the IPL 2022 winners, have moved on from its crushing Qualifier 1 defeat in Dharamshala. “There is nothing to bring from the last match, and that is better. That was not a good match for us. The only thing I can say is the way Tewatia spent time in the middle.

“Obviously, there were a lot of questions about middle order before the big game, but (Rahul) Tewatia spent a lot of time in the middle. So, that is something very positive. Otherwise, in the play‑off games, whether it is Rajasthan or us, you have to leave that game behind and try to look forward.”

On leading run-getter B Sai Sudarshan’s strike rate, Patel said, “No, I don’t think there is any kind of temptation to tell Sai Sudarshan to go with a higher strike rate. He has been very effective. He has been scoring at a fair strike rate, also.

“It is not that he is scoring under 100. If someone is scoring at 300, it doesn’t mean that everyone has to strike at 300. But he has been very effective. He has given us results. So there is no talk about telling Sai Sudarshan that you need to go higher than 170 strike rate or 200.”

Patel also dismissed criticism of GT’s style of play from IPL critics. “We were sitting pretty at number 2 in the points table. I know other teams can think whatever they want to think. Six teams have not qualified. I know the references which we heard about – I know Tom Moody had said about GT as a set pattern team.

“We have finished number two, and we know what kind of cricket we want to play, and we back ourselves to give results. Over the last 4‑5 years, we have qualified for playoffs one year, we have been champions in one, and we were runners‑up once. So the results are there for everyone to see. Everybody has their own different way of playing. We have our own style of play. 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, and we know what we can do, and that is something which we will try to do tomorrow as well. We feel that we are a very good unit, and if we go out there and execute our plans, I think we can win that game,” he concluded.

–IANS

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