Gujarat Titans team members celebrate their team's win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (Photo by Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)
Gujarat Titans are sitting pretty at number 2 on the points table and look set to repeat their performance of 2022 & 2023. They have won seven of their 10 encounters and are tied on 14 points with Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru with a very realistic chance of making the playoffs. Titans have been very consistent this season, and while the bowlers have done a commendable job, it is really their top-order that has been outstanding in the competition.
RG looks at the numbers behind the batting brilliance of Titans in IPL 2025.
Dominance by the Top Three
Three of the four highest run-getters this season are from the Titans. Sai Sudharsan has had a breakthrough season and is at the top of the pack with an aggregate of 504 runs in 10 innings. Jos Buttler is at number 3 with 470 runs and is followed by Shubman Gill who has an aggregate of 465 runs in the same number of innings. Only Suryakumar Yadav, with 475 runs, is the non-Titans batter in the top 4 but he has played 11 matches.
The GT top 3 have 15 fifties between them (5 each) and strike rates in excess of 150 (154.1, 169, 162). The next highest on the list in terms of number of half-centuries is Lucknow Super Giants with a total of 12. The combined batting average of the Titans’ top 3 is 57.6, miles ahead of LSG, who are again at number 2 with a corresponding average of 39.2. Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran have had a tremendous season for the Super Giants. The fact that Sudharsan, Buttler and Gill have outnumbered them and by such a significant margin showcases how good the GT top-order has been with the bat in the competition.
Record-breaking Consistency
The Titans have crossed the 200-run mark on five occasions this season – the most for any team. They have won three of their four games batting second – the only one they lost was in a chase of 243 against Punjab Kings and there too they gave a real scare to the opposition, falling short by just 9 runs! The three victorious chases have been by thumping margins – 8 wickets and 13 balls to spare against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (chasing 170), 7 wickets and 20 balls remaining against Sunrisers Hyderabad (chasing 153), and 7 wickets and 4 balls remaining against Delhi Capitals (chasing 204). The reason for their success is the phenomenal consistency of their top-order. One of Sudharsan, Buttler or Gill has scored a fifty in every match for the Titans. Together, they have scored three-fourths of their team’s runs in the tournament (75.9%)!
Now here is a staggering statistic – the combined batting average of GT’s top 3 is not only the highest this season but also the highest ever for any IPL team in any edition of the tournament! Only one other team had a Top 3 batting average of 50+ (RCB’s Top 3 averaged 51.3 in 2016). Mind you, the top 3 of this RCB team included Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers!
Explosive in the Middle Overs
While the GT top 3 have an astonishing average of 91.8 in the powerplay this season, they have really picked up the ante in the middle overs. GT has a combined batting strike rate of 165.2 between overs 7-15 in the tournament, which is not only the best for this season but also the highest ever in this phase of play for any IPL team in the league’s 18-year-old history! The next highest on the list is Kolkata Knight Riders, who had a middle-over strike rate of 163 last season when they went on to win the tournament.
Buttler has a strike rate of 171.7 in the middle overs this season while Gill stands at 161.6. The corresponding strike rate for Sudharsan is 148.2. Shahrukh Khan (172.7) and Sherfane Rutherford (157.1) have also played their part in keeping up the tempo, though their run-scoring contribution has been significantly less.
Overall, the Titans have the highest combined batting average (43.1) and strike rate (170.5) this season. They also have the best balls per boundary ratio, hitting a four or a six once every 4.4 deliveries. Their dot ball percentage of 27.3% is also the lowest in the competition, which suggests that not only have they found the fence regularly but have also kept the strike rotating consistently.
Nikhil Narain is a die-hard cricket romantic, published author, and has worked for some of the leading digital websites and broadcasters in India and overseas. An alumnus of the London School of Economics, Nikhil's forte is using data and numbers creatively to weave interesting stories and revolutionize the way cricket statistics are generated and analyzed.
