Gujarat Titans’ pace bowler Mohit Sharma expressed the difficulty of replacing a bowler of Mohammed Shami’s caliber after his team’s 63-run defeat to Chennai Super Kings. Shami, India’s premier pacer, is recovering from ankle surgery and will miss the IPL and T20 World Cup.
“Any team would miss a bowler like Shami. You can’t replace him with anyone,” said Sharma, who played for CSK from 2013 to 2015. “But injuries are uncontrollable, and you must move ahead.”
Sharma acknowledged the inexperience of GT’s new bowlers, Spencer Johnson and Azmatullah Omarzai. “They haven’t played much cricket yet. We must be patient with them and not become too result-oriented.”
He emphasized the importance of focusing on execution rather than results. “We must not bother about the runs leaked or the result, but how successful we are with our plans and how we are working on it backstage.”
CSK posted a formidable 206 for six, with Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rachin Ravindra, and Shivam Dube contributing significantly. GT bowlers struggled, with Umesh Yadav conceding 27 in two overs and Rashid Khan going for 49 in four overs.
Sharma attributed CSK’s success to their aggressive approach in the powerplay. “They tried to get the maximum out of the powerplay overs,” he said. “We failed to execute our plans properly and judge the width and length during our bowling.”
Despite the loss, Sharma defended GT’s decision to bowl first, citing the potential for dew in night games. “We knew that the dew might play a factor later during the game,” he said.
However, Sharma praised CSK bowlers for their execution. “Deepak (Chahar) started well, and at the end of the day, it all boils down to the number of variations you possess and when and how to use them.”
He refused to blame GT’s batters for the poor show. “I won’t say we failed to score runs, but credit to the CSK bowlers for bowling brilliantly,” he said. “The wickets that we lost initially, leading to lack of partnerships, followed by CSK bowlers bowling the right length, led to our inability to up the run rate.”
