Gujarat Titans fast bowler Mohit Sharma admitted that any team is bound is miss a bowler like Mohammed Shami. The gun fast bowler has been ruled out with an ankle injury, for which he recently underwent surgery.

Shami was the leading wicket-taker in the previous season of the IPL, taking 28 wickets for GT. Ergo, the fast bowler had played a key role in taking the franchise to the final of the tournament.

Sharma, who himself bagged 27 wickets in the previous season, added they must be patient with bowlers like Spencer Johnson and Azmatullah Omarzai, who don’t have a lot of experience under their belt.

“Any team is bound to miss a bowler like Shami, and you can’t replace him with anyone. But injuries are uncontrollable, and you must see how to move ahead with it,” said Sharma during the post-match press conference.

“As for GT, it’s the first year for Spencer (Johnson) and Azmatullah (Omarzai). They haven’t played much cricket yet. Therefore, we must be patient with them and not become too result-oriented.

“We must not bother about the runs leaked or the result of the contest, but how successful we are with our plans and how we are working on it backstage. These things would come in handy in the second half (of the event),” opined Sharma.

GT conceded an above-par total of 206 runs against defending champions Chennai Super Kings. GT bowlers were taken to cleaners by Rachin Ravindra and Shivam Dube, who both scored 46 and 51 runs respectively. Ravindra took the attack to the opposition in the Powerplay overs and played a key role in taking CSK to 69-1 after the end of six overs.

“Not much of a difference (in CSK’s strategy). It used to be the same when I used to play for CSK, and we usually tried to get the maximum out of the powerplay overs,” he said.

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