NEW DELHI: Indian pacers Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna have played a key role in Gujarat Titans‘ (GT) success during IPL 2025, accounting for wickets at regular intervals. While Siraj has picked 15 wickets so far this season, Krishna currently leads the wicket-taking chart, with 20 dismissals. The duo have benefitted from inputs shared by GT head coach Ashish Nehra as revealed by the team’s veteran pacer Ishant Sharma.“Siraj already has experience in international cricket and understands his bowling. So, Nehra didn’t try to tweak much. However, he noted that Siraj wasn’t that confident about bowling out-swing deliveries and instead preferred to bowl with a wobble seam. So, Nehra told him, ‘Your first ball will be an out-swinger. When the ball stops swinging, you can switch your approach to a wobble-seam delivery’. He’s always urged Siraj to trust his out-swing,” said Ishant Sharma on the ‘Star Sports Press Room with Gujarat Titans around the race to the play-offs’.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The veteran pacer further added that Nehra provided Prasidh feedback regarding the length at which he should be bowling.Who’s that IPL player?“Prasidh’s natural length while bowling is 6 metres considering his height. Nehra told him, ‘You have to push the length of your deliveries a little ahead. On red soil, you have to bowl four and a half metres. While bowling on black soil, it should be five to six metres’,” revealed Ishant.“Nehra further asked Prasidh to bowl a yorker once he was confident about the length of his deliveries. Our coach believes that there is nothing better than length bowling if the ball is being delivered accurately within the line of the stumps. There is only one thing which Ashu bhai wants bowlers to avoid which is unforced errors. He wants us to stick to the basics and make the batters hit the good deliveries,” added the GT pacer.
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The Gujarat-based franchise was among the first few teams to resume training after the recent break in IPL 2025. Ishant shared an interesting anecdote showcasing the scenario and confusion at that point.“There was this perception that the IPL wouldn’t be played with almost all international players going back. I told my manager, ‘Please courier my luggage from Ahmedabad’ as I had travelled back to Delhi. He responded that everyone is returning back to Ahmedabad. I also returned like the others,” said Ishant.“As soon as we landed, everything changed. There was a 360-degree turnaround. We initially did a lot of fielding drills as a lot of catches were dropped during the practice sessions. The coach also put pressure on us,” he added.
Ishant further highlighted the work ethics of the GT setup, terming it “insane”.“The manner in which GT practice is insane. We leave at 3 in the afternoon and return at 1 AM the next day. My wife has told me many times that we put in more effort while practicing on the ground than during the match,” said the 36-year-old pacer.Catch Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings at 3:30 PM, followed by Delhi Capitals vs Gujarat Titans at 7:30 PM tomorrow, May 18, as teams race to the TATA IPL play-offs — live and exclusive on JioHotstar and Star Sports Network
Get IPL 2025 match schedules, squads, points table, and live scores for CSK, MI, RCB, KKR, SRH, LSG, DC, GT, PBKS, and RR. Check the latest IPL Orange Cap and Purple Cap standings.
