Rashid Khan opened up on whether Gujarat Titans are worried about their inconsistent middle order in IPL 2026. On Thursday, April 30, the Titans had every reason to celebrate after beating Royal Challengers Bengaluru by four wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, but concerns around their middle order still lingered.
After Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler powered GT to 92 for three in 7.3 overs, the team had brief moments of uncertainty as they lost wickets in quick succession. Eventually, Rahul Tewatia’s unbeaten 27 off 17 balls guided GT home with 25 balls to spare.
Rashid said IPL exposes team weaknesses, so GT should avoid overthinking their middle-order issues. He stressed the importance of making quick-impact contributions in limited deliveries and maintaining positive intent.
“Look, this is T20 cricket, especially the IPL, it’s a special kind of competition. Your weakness will show at some point, whether it’s in bowling, the middle order, or the powerplay. So I think instead of focusing too much on that, we should focus less on the weaknesses,” Rashid told the broadcasters after the match.
“Whoever gets the responsibility in the middle, even if I get it and I only have 5 or 10 balls, the aim should be to score 15–20 runs for the team. I think that’s very important.”
‘Some teams don’t have strong bowling as GT’
The Titans have relied heavily on their trio of Shubman Gill, Jos Buttler and Sai Sudharsan to deliver the bulk of their runs. Together, they have contributed nearly 68 per cent of the total runs scored by GT batters in the ongoing competition. Rashid said that while the middle order has not been at its best, the bowlers have put in wholehearted efforts to make life easier for the GT batters.
“And if you keep thinking too much about weaknesses, your energy automatically goes down, like, ‘our middle order is a bit weak, and if runs don’t come from the top, we’ll get stuck’,” Rashid said.
“But overall, if you look at teams, some don’t even have as strong a bowling lineup as ours. So as a bowling unit, we try to make things easier for the batters by reducing extra runs and making conditions easier for them,” Rashid added.
With back-to-back wins, first over Chennai Super Kings and then Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the Titans stayed fifth in the table with 10 points and a net run rate of -0.192. GT will look to carry forward their winning momentum when they face Punjab Kings on Sunday, May 3 in Ahmedabad.
