Former Australian cricketer and veteran coach Tom Moody believes Gujarat Titans openers Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill have mastered the art of moving through the gears with a technique that allows them to weather any storm.
Sudharsan (108 not out) and Gill (93 not out) continued their red-hot form as Titans chased down the daunting 200-run target set by Delhi Capitals with an over to spare in a high-stakes IPL game in New Delhi on Sunday.
The stylish duo, who have accumulated 600-plus runs each to lead the IPL 2025 batting charts, figured out a blueprint for victory and executed it flawlessly to steer their side to the top of the table while sealing a playoff spot.
"I think the way they dovetail together as an opening pair, they seem to really understand each other's game. One seems to fall in behind the other if one's got off to a flier. So they cover each other, and there seems to be a pattern in that throughout the season. And just their traditional strokeplay," Moody said on ESPNcricinfo Time Out.
Both of them are elegant and easy on the eye, but they also possess the ability to score at a rapid pace. Gill has so far racked up 54 fours and 23 sixes this season, while Sudharsan has 68 boundaries, the most by any player, and 20 maximums under his belt.
"What it shows you is the class of that batting pair. They are proper batters that have the technique that can weather any storm, but also... they have both developed this over time, they have learnt how to move through the gears. They may have only had three gears in previous years, but both of them have five gears they can shift to," he added.
The 205-run opening stand between them against the Delhi Capitals has been their best so far this season. Together, they have aggregated 839 runs at an astonishing average of 76.27.
"How do you build the pressure? By bowling dot balls. Those two are so good, not just in this game; if you see the other games also, where the pitches were a little tricky, they are so good (at) running between the wickets, that really makes their life easier," former India spinner Piyush Chawla said.
"When you are bowling a good ball, you look for a dot ball or a wicket. They turn that into a single. And when there is a ball to hit for a boundary, they are never missing those chances as well," he added.