Gujarat Lions made their spectacular debut in 2016 at the VIVO IPL 9 finishing at number three in the tournament. Under the immaculate captaincy of Suresh Raina and mentorship from the Aussie veteran Brad Hodge, the team is expected to perform even better this year. Gujarat team represents the colorful Indian city of Rajkot as well as the vibrant state of Gujarat.
VIVO IPL 2017: SWOT Analysis of Gujarat Lions #IPL
The smartest move of Gujarat Lions at the VIVO IPL 10 auction was the inclusion of ace English opener Jason Roy into the squad. Gujarat Lions performed brilliantly last year when skipper Suresh Raina almost took the team to IPL 9 finale before Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) inflicted a surprise upset over them at Qualifiers 2 beating Raina and company by four wickets in the final over of the match.
Also Read: VIVO IPL 2017: SWOT Analysis of Sunrisers Hyderabad #IPL
The inclusion of Roy will boost the team’s opening combination. Jason Roy is set to open the innings alongside another fiery opener Aaron Finch of Australia. Also, Kiwi legend Brendon McCullum is set to feature in the Gujarat’s team at number three if he doesn’t open the innings.
Gujarat Lions (GL): Strengths at a Glance
- Consistent performance at their debut IPL tournament reaching into the qualifier. It will surely act as a morale booster to them this year.
- Captain Suresh Raina has a good experience in both IPL and international matches. He was the main architect of CSK’s (Chennai Super Kings) consistent performance in IPL 2010 and 2011.
- The team has a strong middle order batsmen like Dwayne Bravo, James Faulkner and Dinesh Karthik.
- Good bowlers including the likes of Praveen Kumar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Munaf Patel, Gony, Ravindra Jadeja and Jakati are set to spearhead the Gujarat’s bowling attacks. The pose a formidable bowling line up – tough for any team to score heavily against them.
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Gujarat Lions (GL): Weaknesses at a Glance
- Suresh Raina is no longer a regular member of India’s ODI squad that he used to be a couple of years back.
- Gujarat Captain Raina’s performance at last year’s IPL 9 was quite ordinary. Though he compensated the same with his astute captaincy, but his score was just 399 runs last year at a dismal average of around 29.
- James Faulkner’s performance at IPL is questionable. He scored meager 77 runs last year at a dismal average of 11 and claimed only 2 wickets. It is feared he shouldn’t remain a liability for Gujarat team.
- Lots of domestic cricketers having no or very little experience of IPL will make their way into the Gujarat Lions squad this year. Their performance will be a key to team’s victory at IPL 10.
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IPL 2017: Full squad and players list of Gujarat Lions (GL)
Suresh Raina, Akshdeep Nath, Shubham Agarwal, Basil Thampi, Dwayne Bravo, Chirag Suri, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Manpreet Gony, Ishan kishan, Ravindra Jadeja, Shadab Jakati, Dinesh Karthik, Shibil Kaushik, Dhawal Kulkarni, Praveen Kumar, Brendon McCullum, Munaf Patel, Pratham Singh, Jason Roy, Pradeep Sangwan, Jaydev Shah, Shelley Shaurya, Nathu Singh, Dwayne Smith, Tejas Baroka and Andrew Tye.
Also Read: IPL 2017: Complete fixtures, schedule and time in IST with venue details
Squad strength: 27 (19 Indian, 8 Overseas)
Tags: #IPL, GL, Gujarat Lions, Indian Premier League, IPL 10, IPL 2017, SWOT Analysis, VIVO IPL
