Gujarat Titans batting coach Matthew Hayden praised the opening duo of Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan after they secured a 77-run win against Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur, on Saturday.

Gill and Sudharsan once again gave a perfect start to their team, adding 118 runs off 65 balls for the opening alliance. This was their ninth opening century stand in the IPL, which is now one less than Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.

While Gill went on to score 84 runs off just 44 balls, Sudharsan scored 55 runs off 36 balls to play a key role in helping their team post a par score of 229 runs on the board.

“As a batter, that is really hard, and they’re doing it for a long period of time, they’re constantly getting into the back half of the game, not just batting inside the powerplay. They’re going right through with their fitness and their ability to be able to really play Test match-type cricket, and ODI cricket in particular,” said Hayden while talking to the reporters.

On the other hand, RR’s opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi, scored a quickfire knock of 36 runs off 16 balls to give a flying start to his team, but Hayden said he needed to bat deep while chasing 230.

“Well, tonight was a good example, right, of an exciting young talent in Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. He batted, got 30 runs at a strike rate of 300,” Hayden added.

“But when you’re chasing 220 odd, you need to bat longer and deeper. So the advantage that we have is that we get players, like the top three that you mentioned, who are striking at 150.”

Gujarat Titans will next take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Tuesday.