IPL 2024

IPL 2024: 3 Potential Players Who Can Replace Mohammed Shami in GT

Gujarat Titans franchise played their first IPL season in 2022 when IPL added two more teams in the mix in the form of Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants. Despite not having a huge fan base as some of the other franchises and a limited set of players to choose from to make a strong squad, they finished their debut season with a bang and clinched their maiden IPL trophy under the leadership of Hardik Pandya.

But after a successful two seasons where they won the trophy in the first and finished as runners-up in the second, they are faced with some critical challenges in their 3rd season. Firstly, the trade of their charismatic captain Hardik Pandya back to Mumbai Indians came as a shock to the Gujarat management and their fans.

As they could recover from such a big loss, they are faced with another big blow as their leading pacer and India’s ODI World Cup hero, Mohammed Shami has been ruled out of the IPL due to an ankle injury. This loss has caused a major headache for the Gujarat management and their newly appointed captain Shubman Gill.

As the auctions are one done by and there are not many world-class options to choose from, let’s deep-dive into the available options with Gujarat from which they can rope in a substitute of Mohammed Shami for the upcoming season:

1. Varun Aaron

Varun Aaron has been in the scheme of things since 2011 and was once considered the next big thing in Indian cricket because of his sheer pace to deceive the batters. But over the inconsistency with the line and length and injuries have been Aaron’s biggest nemesis. He has taken 44 wickets in 50 innings so far in the IPL.

Recently, he has taken retirement from red-ball cricket on his white-ball career. Given his experience and sheer pace, GT can look at him as a possible replacement for Mohammed Shami just like they brought back a new version of another forgotten India pacer Mohit who made a significant impact in the season.