Gujarat Titans are into their fifth IPL season and have already built a strong record – title winners in 2022, runners-up in 2023 and Playoff qualifiers last year. All-rounder Jason Holder, who won his second Player of the Match award for taking 4/24 against PBKS, cited calmness as one of the reasons behind GT doing well in the IPL. “When you look at the history of this franchise, they’ve got a pretty good record. They’ve done well consistently over the five years that they’ve been in this competition. So we must be doing something well. Whether we’ve got enough to win the competition, I think the best teams hold their nerve deep in the tournament. This franchise has won the competition in its first year. So it’s not to say we haven’t won or we can’t win playing the way that we play.” “Clearly, that shows you that what we’re doing makes sense. And we’re well supported by the support staff. Ashish has been outstanding, and his whole staff is supporting him really well,” Holder said in the post-match press conference. “But for us, it’s just about playing the scenarios. We try not to get too far ahead of ourselves. Even though conditions may be placid in a sense where you can score a little bit freer than some other surfaces, it’s still a matter for us to play the situation that’s in front of us,” he added. For several seasons, GT have been looked at as a top-heavy batting unit, which is heavily reliant on the likes of Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill to get a bulk of the runs. Holder felt that whether the middle order got runs regularly did not matter, but what did matter was to stay positive. “Look, you play the game a way, and you set up how you want to play the game. Sometimes it comes off, sometimes it doesn’t. I think the main priority for us is to stay positive and be clear with our plans.”Story continues below this ad “So I think the matter for the middle is just to come in and build a partnership with whoever’s there from the top and take the game as deep as possible. And as you said, maybe win it a little earlier,” the Barbadian added. Despite claiming a second win in a row, GT’s net run-rate remains in the negative. Holder, however, emphasised that it was more important for the team to win and get the two points. “Look, I think the first priority is always to win the game. If we find ourselves in a position where conditions are favourable that we could think about net run rate, I think we’ll do that. But I think the first priority is to accumulate the two points every single time we play and build our momentum,” he said. GT next take on the Rajasthan Royals on May 9.
Jason Holder on why GT have had success in their short IPL history: ‘We try not to get too far ahead of ourselves’
