Former Indian batter Rohan Gavaskar believes Rashid Khan’s return to form is the biggest positive for Gujarat Titans after they registered a comprehensive 77-run win against Rajasthan Royals in the ongoing IPL 2026 on Saturday. 

While defending a par score of 230, Khan returned with impressive figures of 4-33 in his quota of four overs. Thus, he was awarded Player of the Match for his fine performance.

The Afghanistan leg-spinner accounted for Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Donovan Ferreira and Shubham Dubey in his match-winning spell.

“No one predicted RR to lose in this fashion. Every team is looking for a big wn at this stage for their net run-rate, and GT got that. Rashid Khan coming into form for GT in the business end, that is the best thing for them. That is very important,” Rohan Gavaskar said on Cricbuzz.

On the other hand, former Indian fast bowler Mohit Sharma also concurred with Gavaskar in the same discussion. Khan has scalped 15 wickets in 11 matches of IPL 2026 at an average of 22.60 and economy rate of 8.26.

“For GT, Rashid Khan being in form is very important, because you don’t have too many spin bowling options for the middle overs. Sai Kishore has only just come in, before that, you tried Manav Suthar, and some other players who could not do that well,” he said.

Gavaskar slammed RR’s approach, adding that the inaugural champions could have thought of reducing the losing margin as the big loss took a hit on their NRR.

“Since there is so much fight for the playoff spots, with so many teams in the 10-14 points range, one eye should be on the net run-rate. If you would have lost this match by 30 runs, wouldn’t it be better for your net run-rate? When you know that the match is gone from your hands, when the match is quite difficult to turn around, could they have thought of reducing the margin of defeat?” Rohan Gavaskar questioned.

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