The defending champions, Gujarat Titans were terrific
with their all-round efforts to go all the way in their debut season last year.
Although they had most of their bases covered, the franchise needed a reliable
scorer in the middle order, preferably an overseas player.

Apart from picking experienced Kane Williamson,
the team picked experienced pacers like Joshua Little and Shivam Mavi. Their
Playing XI certainly looks exciting, with experienced players in the shortest
format of the game.

GT IPL 2023 Complete squad: Hardik Pandya (c),
Shubman Gill, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Sai Sudharsan, Wriddhiman Saha,
Matthew Wade, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Mohammed Shami,
Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Pradeep Sangwan, Darshan Nalkande, Jayant Yadav, R
Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad, Kane Williamson, Odean Smith, KS Bharat, Shivam Mavi,
Urvil Patel, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma

Here’s how Titans XI shapes up after the
mini-auction.

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Top-order:
Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill, Kane Williamson

The opening
pair of Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha was instrumental in providing confidence
to the team in the powerplay overs. Both players are likely to be donning the
same role in the 2023 edition. The New Zealand white-ball skipper, Kane
Williamson can bat at the number three slot and replace Matthew Wade.

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Middle-order:
Hardik Pandya (c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia

Hardik Pandya
had a phenomenal IPL 2022, wherein he was impressive with his leadership and all-around
abilities. Along with him, David Miller displayed consistency in helping the
team to ace crunch moments. At number six, Rahul Tewatia closed out close
matches with his ball-striking abilities.  

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Bowlers:
Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Josh Little, Shivam Mavi, Mohammed
Shami

The Titans’
management added in-form bowlers Josh Little and Shivam Mavi to their roster
for IPL 2023, and are likely to be making their presence in the XI. Mohammed
Shami returned as the finest performer for them and will look to continue the
good form. The finest spinner in T20s, Rashid Khan might pair up with Sai Kishore
in this line-up.

GT Starting XI for IPL 2023: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill, Kane Williamson, Hardik Pandya (c),
David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Josh
Little, Shivam Mavi, Mohammed Shami