IPL 2026: Why Gujarat Titans may back their pace bowlers more over spinners
Gujarat Titans batsman Glenn Phillips stated that his team, which is back on track after early IPL season losses, is counting on its pacers to perform well at home as it looks to defeat the struggling Kolkata Knight Riders for a third straight victory on Friday in Ahmedabad.
The Gujarat Titans got off to a bad start, losing their first two games. However, they have since found their rhythm, winning back-to-back games, and they will be aiming for a third against KKR, who are at the bottom with four losses.
“We’ve got a very fast pace attack and maybe KKR, for example, have an incredible spin attack with (Sunil) Narine and (Varun) Chakravarthy and obviously (Anukul) Roy is bombing very well,” PTI quoted Phillips as saying during a media interaction on Thursday.
“We may want to back our pace bowlers more over the spin and let our batters who are really good at playing pace face their (KKR) pace bowlers,” said the New Zealander.
Big scores continue to be a major discussion topic, according to Phillips, since the majority of games this season have turned into high-scoring affairs with totals frequently surpassing 200 and even 250. He did, however, remark that 210–220 would still be a competitive total because of the venue’s long boundaries.
“Yeah, obviously it is a big conversation. The scores have been getting higher and higher every year and obviously it becomes tougher and tougher for bowlers, especially with how good the wickets are and on some grounds they are particularly small.
“So we are very blessed here to have a slightly bigger boundary but obviously it is equated with the pitch being an incredibly batter-friendly pitch as well.
“So, I think given different conditions and different environments, for us if 210 or 220 is actually a good score to keep a team to on this pitch then that’s the sort of score that we’ll look to keep them to or whether it’s 250 but if the pitch dictates that we need to keep them down to that 160-180 mark, I think the bowlers are going about their plans really well,” he added.
The Gujarat Titans’ negative net run rate should be concerning given that five teams are tied on four points, but Phillips downplayed it by stating that the squad would continue to aim for higher totals and that it is still early.
When asked about turning his cameos into higher scores, he seemed a little confused, pointing out that he has batted at a variety of positions and on a variety of pitches where high scores aren’t always assured.
“How much research have you done into the positions I’ve batted into in the eight games I’ve played in? I’ve been in completely different situations, I’ve played on some rubbish pitches in Dubai, I’ve been in situations where I’ve come in with six balls to go.
“It’s pretty hard to score big scores in those sorts of environments and obviously maybe when you do get the opportunity to go big that day maybe isn’t your day. It’s a little bit of a tough environment to, I guess, score big and score consistently but for me I think it’s about trying to contribute to the team,” he added.
