IPL winning captain lost, best bowler became unfit, this time 'champion team' in trouble

There are only two teams in IPL which won the title in their very first season. First Rajasthan Royals and second Gujarat Titans. Rajasthan team became champion for the first time in 2008 under the captaincy of Shane Warne, while Gujarat Titans won the title in 2022 under the captaincy of Hardik Pandya.

Hardik also took Gujarat Titans to the finals in 2023. But Hardik Pandya is not with Gujarat in IPL 2024. Now he has returned to Mumbai Indians. But Pandya is not the only cricketer whose absence will be missed by Gujarat Titans. This list is long.

Gujarat Titans are also going to miss that fast bowler in IPL 2024, who is not only the champion bowler of this T20 league, but who also took the most wickets in the World Cup 2023. Name is Mohammed Shami. Swing bowling champion Mohammed Shami is injured. He had undergone surgery a few days ago and due to this he will not be able to play for the next three-four months. Let us tell you that in IPL 2023, Mohammed Shami had captured the Purple Cap by taking maximum 28 wickets.

There are many other big changes in the 2023 and 2024 team of Gujarat Titans. Gujarat Titans have released Yash Dayal, KS Bharat, Shivam Mavi, Urvil Patel, Pradeep Sangwan, Odion Smith, Alzarri Joseph and Dasun Shanako from the 2023 squad. Now these players will not be seen with this team.

Shubman Gill captain in place of Hardik
Gujarat Titans have appointed Shubman Gill as the new captain of the team after trading Hardik Pandya to Mumbai Indians. Azmatullah Omarzai, Umesh Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi, Manav Suthar, Spencer Johnson and Robin Minz will be new faces in this team of Shubman. Gujarat Titans have added all of them to the team through the IPL auction held in November 2023.

Gujarat Titans had made the highest bid on Australian pacer Spencer Johnson (Rs 10 crore) in the November 2023 auction. The team had also made a big bid on Umesh Yadav (Rs 5.80 crore). There will be pressure on both of them to compensate for Mohammed Shami. In Pandya's absence, Afghanistan's Azmatullah Omarzai can play the role of the team's all-rounder.

Gujarat Titans Full Squad: Shubman Gill (captain), David Miller, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, B Sai Sudarshan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Noor Ahmed, Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, Josh Little, Mohit Sharma, Azmatullah Omarzai, Umesh Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, Sushant Mishra, Karthik Tyagi, Manav Suthar, Spencer Johnson and Robin Minz.