After Gujarat Titans (GT) traded Hardik Pandya to Mumbai Indians (MI), they were desperately reaching for his replacement. It is difficult to find another player of Hardik’s caliber who could bat and bowl and also lead the side at the same time. But, Parthiv Patel thinks that Shahrukh Khan can fill the gap in the team.
Parthiv said at the review show for the IPL 2024 Auction on JioCinema, that Shahrukh Khan is the ‘best’ buy for GT as he can bat at number 5 or 6 and can deliver a few overs.
“Robin Minz is a good inclusion. It will give them a different type of option. The biggest gap they had to fill was the one left by Hardik Pandya. I feel they have shown faith in Shahrukh Khan there. He can bat both ways at No. 5 or No. 6. He is an experienced player. I feel Shahrukh Khan was their best buy,” he added.
GT bought the all-rounder at Rs 7.4 crore in the IPL 2024 Auction. Before the auction, he was released by Punjab Kings (PBKS) whose they had signed at Rs 5.25 crore.
“The team is looking strong but based on the purse they had, they might be thinking that they probably didn’t get their first-choice players. They wanted Mitchell Starc. They went till 24.50 crores for him but could they have spent more there?”
GT full squad: David Miller, Shubman Gill (c), Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, B. Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma, Azmatullah Omarzai, Umesh Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi, Manav Suthar, Spencer Johnson, Robin Minz.