Ahmedabad, May 1 (IANS) Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan said that the Gujarat Titans (GT) middle order has been a weakness in the Indian Premier League (IPL), but emphasised that the team should focus on its strengths rather than flaws to maintain momentum.

GT’s middle order has failed to score runs during the whole season, and the heavy lifting has been done by the top order batters Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, and Jos Buttler, which has become a visible flaw of the team.

“In a competition like the IPL, every team will have a weakness in some department, whether it is bowling, the middle order, or the top order. We try, as much as possible, not to focus on that,” Rashid told Jio Hotstar.

Rashid believes that the middle-order batters must maximise the limited opportunities they get, especially in the chase, as even small contributions can make a big impact.

“Whoever gets the responsibility in the middle, including myself, should aim to score 15-20 runs if I have five to 10 balls to play. That is extremely important because if we keep thinking that our middle order is weak or that the top order failing will put us in trouble, we lose our focus,” he said.

He further stated that the teams focus remains on bowling good lines and restricting the opposition at low scores.

“If you look at some other teams in the competition, they do not have a bowling line-up of the calibre that we do. So, our focus is to restrict the opposition batters to low scores and make things easier for our batters,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rashid bowled an amazing spell of 2-19, which helped GT bowl out Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for just 155 runs in 19.2 overs. The target was later chased down easily by the Gujarat Titans in 15.5 overs.

Speaking on his performance in the match, Rashid said, “The most important thing for me was to bowl in the right areas. It was important for the team that I maintained a good economy, especially in the middle overs. Whenever I conceded runs, it was because I had bowled bad balls. So, that was on my mind. If I could minimise the percentage of those as much as possible, it would benefit me. My focus was to consistently hit the 5 to 5.5-metre length, which really helped me.”

–IANS

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