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Ahead of the Gujarat Titans (GT) match against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), GT's run machine Sai Sudharsan has an opportunity to have a marvellous record to his name - that of surpassing West Indies legend Chris Gayle for the fastest 2,000 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
RCB, looking to bounce back after a last-over thriller against Delhi Capitals (DC), will be aiming to get their fifth win of the season, while GT, who are placed seventh in the points tally with three wins and three losses, will be taking on each other at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday. Sudharsan, who has not had a great IPL so far, will be aiming to recapture that magic that placed him amongst IPL's elite batters for the past two seasons. In 46 matches and 46 innings, Sudharsan has scored 1,928 runs at an average of 45.90 and a strike rate of 145.83, including two centuries and 13 fifties. If he gets the remaining 72 runs to reach the 2,000 IPL runs mark today, he will be the fastest to reach the mark in 47 innings. Gayle had reached the landmark in his 48th innings. In this season, Sudharsan has scored just 135 runs in six innings at an average of 22.50 and a strike rate of over 145, with a half-century and a knock of 73 against Rajasthan Royals (RR) as the highlights. In the other five innings, he has crossed the 20-run mark only once. Lack of runs from Sudharsan has hurt the Titans' batting line-up. The power-packed middle-order that includes Shahrukh Khan, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tewatia, have been struggling to find consistency and their getting fluency would ease some pressure from top-order batters Sudharsan, skipper Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler. Squads: Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad: Virat Kohli, Philip Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam Dar, Venkatesh Iyer, Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, Vicky Ostwal, Jacob Duffy, Swapnil Singh, Nuwan Thushara, Jacob Bethell, Vihaan Malhotra, Abhinandan Singh, Kanishk Chouhan, Satvik Deswal Gujarat Titans Squad: Shubman Gill(c), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler(w), Glenn Phillips, Washington Sundar, Shahrukh Khan, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, Ashok Sharma, Rahul Tewatia, Jason Holder, Manav Suthar, Kulwant Khejroliya, Anuj Rawat, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Luke Wood, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Kumar Kushagra, Arshad Khan, Gurnoor Brar, Nishant Sindhu, Connor Esterhuizen. (ANI)
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