Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans won the Indian Premier League (IPL) won the title in their debut season in 2022 and now have the task of defending the crown come IPL 2023 next year. After Rajasthan Royals in the inaugural IPL season, Titans became the first team to achieve this feat on debut.


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All-rounder Hardik Pandya has gone from strength-to-strength since returning to lead the Titans in IPL 2022 and is now billed as the favourite to take over as India’s T20 skipper by replacing Rohit Sharma. In IPL 2022, Gujarat Titans won 10 out of their 14 league stage games to top the points table.


The Titans have released just 6 players from their squad – Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Lockie Ferguson, Dominic Drakes, Gurkeerat Singh, Jason Roy and Varun Aaron have all been released. Lockie Ferguson and Rahmanullah Gurbaz have been traded off to Kolkata Knight Riders.



Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat Titans have 3 overseas slots remaining and have a purse size of Rs 19.25 crore for the auction. Here is a list of players that the defending champions might target for the at the IPL 2023 auction on Friday (December 23) in Kochi…


Mayank Agarwal (Base price Rs 1 Crore)


Mayank Agarwal was the Punjab Kings captain till last season but released after another disappointing year by the Preity Zinta co-owned franchise. Mayank has played in 68 IPL matches till date and scored 1,654 runs at a strike-rate of 134.58 with nine half-centuries and 1 century.


Joshua Little (Base price Rs 50 Lakh)


Ireland pacer Joshua Little had a very impressive time at the T20 World Cup 2022 down under earlier this year. The Titans will be in hunt for an efficient pacer in the absence of Ferguson. At the T20 World Cup 2022, Little played in 7 games and picked up 11 wickets with a best 3/22 and economy rate of just 7.


Dawid Malan (Base price Rs 1.5 crore)


The former World No. 1 Dawid Malan was also part of the Punjab Kings team but wasn’t retained for the 2023 season. In 2022, Malan played 37 T20 matches and scored 1,120 runs. He has scored these runs at a strike rate of 142. 22 and has registered the highest score of 98 not out. Malan was unlucky not to play in the T20 World Cup 2022 final due to injury, which England won.


Gujarat Titans before 2023 player auctions


Retained: Hardik Pandya (capt), 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


Released players: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Rs 50 lakh), Lockie Ferguson (Rs 10 crore), Dominic Drakes (Rs 1.1 crore), Gurkeerat Singh (Rs 50 lakh), Jason Roy (Rs 2 crore), Varun Aaron (Rs 50 lakh)