Gujarat Titans on Saturday defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore to notch up a comfortable win to go one step closer to the IPL 2022 playoffs berth. This was their 8th win in nine matches. So far, the Ahmedabad based franchise lost only one match.

The No. 1 ranked team Gujarat Titans is now the team to beat this season. But how to beat Hardik Pandya-led side? This is the question making rounds in every IPL fans’ minds.

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Despite being a newbie, Gujarat Titans managed to thump their authority on the T20 league, which is dominated by Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings for years.

In the IPL 2022 mega auction in February, Gujarat Titans spent heavily and wisely to build a well balanced side.

They got a top order which is spearhead by captain Haridk Pandya, who has been regularly firing with bat and ball to lead his side by setting an example. When GT signed Hardik from the players’ draft ahead of the auction and appointed him captian, many raised eyebrows, but the all-rounder appeared to be an efficient captain.

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In the middle order, the likes of Rahul Tewatia and David Miller have been superb and playing key roles in their five succesful chases this season. In fact , with five chases , GT became one of the most successful chasing sides in IPL.

GT are now sitting comfortably on top. With 16 points from eighth wins in 9 matches, GT now need to script two more wins to be in top two which will give them two changes to play in the IPL 2022 final.

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GT started their campaign with a narrow win over Lucknow Super Giants, then beat Delhi Capitals, won a thriller against Punjab Kings, thanks to Rahul Tewatia who hit two sixes off the last two balls, had suffered a loss to SunRisers Hyderabad in their fourth game. But after that they beat Rajasthan Royals convincingly, beat Chennai Super Kings from the jaws of defeat, thanks to David Miller, then beat Kolkata Knight Riders. And today they beat Royal Challengers Bangalore with the Rahul Tewatia and Miller seeing them home.

Every game they have a hero, be it Mohammed Shami or Lockie Ferguson or Rashid Khan with the ball, Tewatia or Miller with the bat or their captain Pandya, all of them have bailed their team out of the woods and ensured that they come on top from difficult positions.

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GT are a team with full confidence and they might the be the new champion of IPL.

No doubt Pandya has lead his team very smartly but the captain is as good as his team and his Gujarat team has players who every game show why they are the team on top.

Now with such a satisfying campaign on their back , Hardik fears of running our of luck in the playoffs. Yes, luck is of course a factor but when your have players who are in form and ready to challenge anything that comes in their way, there is nothing to worry about the end result.