IPL 2026 Auction: Gujarat Titans did not address their middle-order issues at all, says ex-India selector

Published - 18 Dec 2025, 12:14 IST | Updated - 18 Dec 2025, 12:43 IST

Former Indian cricketer Kris Srikkanth believes Gujarat Titans did not strengthen their middle order adequately during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 auction which took place on December 16. The bulk of GT's runs in IPL 2025 were scored by their batters at the top of the order, as Sai Sudharsan, skipper Shubman Gill, and Jos Buttler were the top three run-getters for the side last season.

Srikkanth reflected on how the 2022 champions had banked on the run-scoring ability of their top-order batters to qualify for the playoffs. Further discussing the all-round prowess of Liam Livingstone being bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad, Srikkanth then went onto comment that the English cricketer would have been a natural option in the Ahmedabad-based franchise.

"They did not address their middle-order issues at all. Last season, they had qualified only because of their top three batters. They should have also targeted specific players like KKR for covering their middle-order issues. Are there no good middle-order batters at all around the world? Actually, [Liam] Livingstone would have been an ideal fit for them," shared Srikkanth in a video on his YouTube channel.

GT had a total of five slots to fill ahead of the auction, including four overseas vacancies. They purchased the likes of Prithvi Raj Yarra (INR 30.00 lakh), Luke Wood (INR 75.00 lakh), Ashok Sharma (Rs 90.00 lakh), Tom Banton (INR 2.00 crore) and Jason Holder (INR 7.00 crore).

Coming to GT's IPL 2025, Sudharsan (759 runs), Gill (650 runs), Buttler (538 runs) all produced 500-plus-run campaigns. Other than the three, there were not many substantial contributions from the others. Sherfane Rutherford was the fourth leading run-getter with only 291 runs in 11 innings at an average of 32.33. However, he too was traded by the franchise to Mumbai Indians, and won't feature for GT in 2026.

Srikkanth feels CSK got it wrong by not picking Mustafizur

GT's final squad for IPL 2026: Shubman Gill (c), Sai Sudharsan, Kumar Kushagra, Anuj Rawat, Jos Buttler, Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Arshad Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Ishant Sharma, Gurnoor Singh Brar, Rashid Khan, Manav Suthar, Sai Kishore, Jayant Yadav, Glenn Phillips, Jason Holder, Ashok Sharma, Luke Wood, Prithvi Raj Yarra, Tom Banton