For the first time in IPL history, a bowling duo bowled the entire powerplay – five consecutive games during the GT vs SRH match in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. It shows how lethal and lethal. Muhammad Siraj And Kagiso Rabada. IPL 2026 has been dominated by top-order batsmen. The duo has evolved into the league’s most prominent new-ball bowling duo, with GT taking 25 wickets during the Powerplay. He has struck every 17.2 balls in the first 6 overs. Rabada’s 16 wickets in this phase are the joint-second most by a bowler in an IPL season.
In a wicket designed for tall fast bowlers in Ahmedabad, Rabada and Siraj consistently hit hard lengths and tore apart the SRH batting line-up. At the end of the Powerplay, their score was 34 for 4. Abhishek SharmaTravis Head et al Ishan Kishan Back in the dugout early GT bowlers have bowled well and behind length areas 84.3% of the time in the powerplay, the highest in the league among all teams. And against a devastating SRH top order, that skill reaped rewards. Siraj opened the first over with a swing, then a good-length second, and on the 4th ball, he swung one into the pads of the head, which could only manage a top edge into the hands of Nishant Sindhu at deep backward point. A wicket maiden from Siraj set the tone, and the template for Kagiso Rabada to test Abhishek Sharma from the same length in the second over. Rabada drives the first ball forward, and Sharma hits it over long-off for a six. But in the second, the South Africans reverted to their usual length, and on the fourth delivery, Abhishek narrowed the room for a back-off-length delivery despite the off-stump and dragged the ball into the wicket. Rabada then dismissed Ishan Kishan in his very next over with another hard length delivery which, after pitching, got away from the SRH wicketkeeper batsman, who could only chase it down and Jose Butler behind the stumps. At the end of the Powerplay overs, SRH were reeling from 169 for 4 wickets chasing a brilliant spell-up by Siraj and Rabada. GT’s success this season has been entirely driven by their bowling attack. In eight wins, their bowlers won the Player of the Match award seven times. The common thread is very simple: bowlers are able to negotiate a lot of ‘Test match length’, mainly hitting good and back-length areas – which is extremely difficult to do in a T20 environment. Rabada and Siraj, with their skill and pace, stuck to their plans and proved that good Test match bowling in T20 can get you wickets. In the seven matches that GT has won, the pair have taken 21 wickets at an average of 14.85.GT has been one of the few sides, who have built their identity around the bowlers even after the influence of the players. With the bowlers driving Gujarat Titans’ surge in the second half of the season, it has not only catapulted them to the top of the IPL 2026 points table, but also put them firmly on course for a top-two finish.
