If you are a Gujarat Titans (GT) fan or follower, the words "broke the back of the chase early", spoken by their No. 3 Jos Buttler, might be enough to bring out tears of joy.
GT do many things, but breaking the back of a middling chase early is not one of them. In many ways, GT still do the closest thing to Test-match batting in T20 cricket. They just don't take risks until it is absolutely needed. When it is a middling chase, no team is more practical than GT.
Something did change on the last day of April 2026, though. GT didn't worry about the falling wickets, consolidated only briefly, and for the first time in four-and-a-half years of existence, chased down a score between 150 and 170 without even going into the death overs.
Shubman Gill and Buttler really did break the back of the chase with assaults of 43 off 19 and 39 off 19. It was a refreshing change to how they generally approach these chases. In 11 such occasions, this was only the second time that even one of their top three has gone at a strike rate of over 200 and scored 30 runs or more.
As it is with GT, you can imagine they are not doing this for the thrill of it. They are in the middle of the IPL 2026 table, and the net run-rate can be crucial when it comes to qualification for the playoffs. This chase of 156, completed in 15.4 overs, lifted their NRR from -0.475 to -0.192.
When we start talking about NRR after a second successive win for a team, it is generally a sign that they are doing something right. In GT's case, it is the frequency with which their bowlers are affording their batters such targets.
Since GT's IPL debut in 2022, there have been 50 successful chases of scores between 150 and 170. GT own ten of those. That's two times what the average should be in a ten-team tournament. Of the 19 times that teams have failed to chase down such totals, only one is against GT's name.
Not only are GT's bowlers restricting sides more often than others, their batters are also the most ruthless in chasing these scores down. And yet, this was only the eighth-highest scoring rate a team has managed in these middling chases since 2022. GT have yet to bat at ten an over when chasing 150 to 170 - they finished with 9.97 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) last night.
Probably brought on by necessity, GT were unrecognisable as they raced to 90 for 2 in 7.1 overs. Washington Sundar and Shahrukh Khan struggled, but Rahul Tewatia, Jason Holder and Rashid Khan didn't look like men who just wanted the W. They wanted W and NRR boost. They were willing to take risks for it. In the process, GT probably might have learnt that sometimes even the worst-case scenario arising from the weak underbelly of your side is not too bad.
It can also sometimes be a self-perpetuating vicious cycle, where it is hard to tell what is leading to what: are the middle-order batters struggling because they are not getting time in the middle or are they not getting enough time in the middle because they are struggling and thus forcing the top order to be more cautious?
This chase might calm GT down a little. They had their worst-case scenario of the middle order not contributing a lot, but their allrounders didn't have to do much more than a brief reset. Of course, nobody wants to see their lower order scrambling for the last few runs, but generally 158 for 6 in 15.5 overs is immensely more beneficial than keeping nine wickets and nine balls in hand.
Abhinav Mukund on the lack of runs from GT's middle order
In splitting hairs of a 10-1 record of middling chases, we mustn't forget that it is their bowlers who frequently leave them chasing below-par scores. This is how Chennai Super Kings (CSK) used to play at their prime: you give your bowlers enough to defend and they will, and you will frequently be chasing under-par scores because you have invested in your bowlers.
However, such chases are not coming around with much frequency. The pitches are getting flatter, taking wickets as a means to slow the scoring has been losing out thanks to the impact player, and the batters are generally hitting better than they did even a couple of years ago.
Professional teams don't change the way they play overnight, chasing and scoring in a specific way to reflect the current rates of scoring. They try to work harder and get better at what they do in order to stay with the times before trying new things.
GT's last two chases of these middling scores have been the fastest they have pulled it off - with 20 balls left against CSK in their previous game and now this, with 25 balls left. If their bowlers keep doing their stuff and the batters could bat with a little more enterprise instead of worrying about losing, they have just taken a turn that leads to 2026.