The conversation around the Gujarat Titans’ batting problems has been aimed at the wrong phase all season. Rahul Tewatia and M Shahrukh Khan are being discussed as finishers who aren’t finishing, when the actual problem is that they’re never getting the chance to play their natural game. Both are being pushed into a rebuilding role after top-order collapses that have nothing to do with their own performance. The middle order isn’t failing the Gujarat Titans. The top order is failing the middle order, and the distinction matters enormously when it comes to fixing it.
How Powerplay Collapses Start the Damage
Three wickets inside five overs change every calculation in a T20 innings. The batter who walks in at 20 for 3 in the sixth over is not playing the same match as the batter who walks in at 60 for 1 in the tenth. The required tempo is different, the field is different, the psychological pressure is different, and the bowling attack smells blood rather than searching for variation.
Gujarat Titans have created this scenario repeatedly this season. Their top order has failed to protect the powerplay in multiple matches, and each time it happens, the middle order inherits a situation it was never designed to manage. The collapse precedes everything that follows, yet the middle order takes the blame for the scoreline that results.
IPL 2026 Is Misusing GT’s Finishers
Rahul Tewatia and M Shahrukh Khan are two of the clearest role specialists. Their value is concentrated and specific, short, high-impact innings from positions of relative stability where they can attack from ball one without needing time to settle. Their career records are built on that exact template.
When the top order collapses, both batters are forced to face 25 to 30 balls in rebuilding mode. That role requires patience, strike rotation, and the ability to absorb pressure without scoring freely, qualities that are genuinely useful but not what either batter does best. Tewatia defending for ten balls to stabilise an innings isn’t a Tewatia failure. It’s a Tewatia misuse. The team is asking him to do something his game isn’t built for because the top order hasn’t done what theirs is built for.
Numbers That Expose the Real Problem
The statistical picture confirms the structural issue. In the previous season, Gujarat’s top three absorbed enough of the pressure and provided enough of the platform that the middle order could operate in short, aggressive bursts. The strike rates and impact figures for Tewatia and Shahrukh reflected that high impact, low ball counts, games won in ten balls rather than thirty.
This season, the cushion has gone. Middle order batters are facing significantly more deliveries, but their strike rates are falling because they’re entering during collapses rather than building phases. More balls faced, fewer runs per ball, lower impact. None of that is a middle-order problem. It’s what happens to any finisher forced into a fundamentally different role than the one their game is designed for.
GT vs MI Proved the Pattern
The Gujarat Titans against the Mumbai Indians provided the clearest single-match evidence of exactly this dynamic. Early wickets meant the middle order arrived under extreme scoreboard pressure with no platform beneath them. The overs between 7 and 12 lacked any batter capable of both rotating the strike and absorbing pressure simultaneously, which meant the innings stagnated precisely when it needed to build.
Tewatia and Shahrukh were then left trying to manufacture acceleration from a base that made acceleration almost impossible. The final total reflected the power play failure, but the post-match narrative focused on the finishers. That misreading of where the innings broke down is precisely why the problem keeps repeating.
- Is the solution to the Gujarat Titans’ batting crisis fixing the top order or changing how Tewatia and Shahrukh are deployed? Drop your pick in the comments and follow for IPL updates.
FAQs
Why is the Gujarat Titans’ middle order struggling?
Because they are forced to bat earlier than intended after top-order collapses, which disrupts their natural roles.
How important is Rahul Tewatia’s role in the Gujarat Titans?
He is a finisher, meant for short, explosive innings, not for rebuilding after early wickets.
What went wrong for GT vs MI in IPL 2026?
Early wickets created pressure, forcing the middle order into defensive batting instead of attacking.
Can the Gujarat Titans fix their batting issues this season?
Yes, if the top order provides better starts and reduces pressure on the middle order.
Is M Shahrukh Khan underperforming or misused?
He is largely misused, as he is being asked to play a role different from his natural finishing strength.