Gujarat Titans are often praised for planning ahead and carrying out those ideas with discipline, and their approach against Kolkata Knight Riders in Ahmedabad on Friday night looked like a textbook example. With the match in progress, GT ensured that both Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada were given complete spells through the powerplay, bowling three overs each right from the start—an allocation that would normally tempt most sides to rotate their attack. After the contest, Rabada explained that the decision was not random, but built around a careful assessment of how the pitch was likely to behave.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Rabada said the process in India usually involves weighing up multiple possibilities—how a surface might play on black soil, red soil, or when conditions combine elements of both. He added that even when a wicket appears to match expectations from similar venues, it can still show different characteristics once play begins. “It’s basically looking at three scenarios, whether you’re bowling on black or red soil or a mix, and then sometimes the wicket doesn’t behave exactly as you plan,” Rabada said. “When we looked at it today, it seemed pretty close to the other red-soil pitches we’ve been on, but it behaved slightly differently—though it was still similar.”
He also pointed to what the new ball brought into the equation. Rabada suggested that there may have been a touch more moisture than usual, which created a more challenging, variable rhythm for batters. According to him, the ball came with extra life at times, the bounce was not entirely uniform, and that made it harder for batters to commit their hands through the shot-making. “With the new ball, perhaps there was a bit more moisture and it was a little more two-paced,” Rabada said. “There was also a bit of uneven bounce, so the batters couldn’t really go after everything—they had to check their strokes.”
From that reading of conditions, the Titans’ plan became clear: Rabada and Siraj would take responsibility for the entire powerplay. Rabada said the intent was to let them bowl uninterrupted through that phase, even though the scenario could have changed on a different day. “That was the decision,” he said. “The decision was for myself and Siraj to bowl for the entire powerplay. On any given day, they could have been five down in that powerplay, but we’ll take three-down any day. Then moving into the middle overs and the death overs, it’s about executing the game plan we believe will work based on what we’ve adapted or what we pre-planned.”
With KKR ending the powerplay on 37 for 3, it was hard to argue with the strategy. Rabada’s numbers reinforced that view as well. He returned to wicket-taking form, finishing with 3 for 29. Coming into the match, he had already taken four wickets from GT’s first four games, and his economy rate of 10.05 in the tournament so far reflected how effective he was in controlling the tempo while still delivering breakthroughs.
Rabada also offered insight into why those conditions suited him personally. He said extra bounce has been a consistent advantage across his career, and that different bowlers naturally benefit from different pitch behaviour. “Extra bounce has probably been my ally throughout my entire career,” he said. “Different bowlers bowl differently. Some bowlers are more skiddy, some bowlers get more extra bounce.” He then compared his own style with Siraj’s. “You look at a guy like Siraj—he’s more skiddy. On wickets that stay low, he becomes a lot more of a threat than I do.”
At the same time, Rabada explained that when the pitch offers more bounce, it tends to play closer to his strengths. “Whereas on pitches that perhaps have a bit more bounce, that’s favouring my strength a bit more,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it’s about extracting all that you can from wickets that might seem placid. Today, it wasn’t placid at all—there was a bit of moisture in that wicket.”
On the whole, GT’s bowling group did the job required to keep KKR under pressure. They restricted the visitors to 180, a total that looked achievable but still somewhat demanding depending on how the innings developed. During the death overs, a score beyond 200 seemed like a realistic risk early on, yet KKR managed only 23 runs in the final four overs. GT therefore had to cross the target in 19.4 overs, and while they are currently fourth in the standings, the pace of their chase may raise a question for them—particularly as net run-rate tends to matter more as the tournament moves deeper and the stakes rise.
When asked about the bigger picture, Rabada underlined that winning comes first, with net run-rate treated as a consequence rather than a primary target. “The most important thing is to win,” he said. “The net run-rate is something that you want to be good, but I don’t think it’s something that you prioritise.” He added that GT’s mindset is to plan around the match situation and trust the group’s ability to score faster when the conditions allow. “We know that we have the depth and the skill to score quicker, especially in the middle overs, but then again, you have to trust the guys in the middle—you have to trust their natural games because they know what they’re doing in the middle.”
Rabada stressed that the same players are not coming to the bowlers to dictate how they should bowl, so GT’s approach is reciprocal. “Those same guys are not coming to me telling me how to bowl, so we’re not going to tell them how to bat,” he said. “But the most important thing as a team is to prioritise the win first and the net run-rate, it will come.” He also pointed out that the tournament is still at an early stage, referencing how the current match number is only game five, leaving plenty of time for results to shape net run-rate. “This is only game number five, so there are quite a few more games left, nine games,” he added.
Finally, Rabada highlighted the role of momentum in how teams perform across different phases of the competition. “There’s a lot of games to improve that and sometimes it’s just momentum,” he said. “That kind of stuff is momentum. You don’t want to go into a game wanting to get your net run-rate higher—it’s more momentum and how a team is playing throughout the different scenarios.”
