New Ahmedabad franchise reveals its name as Gujarat Titans

Ending all the speculations, the Ahmedabad-based franchise finally made an announcement regarding its name. The team led by Hardik Pandya will be known as Gujarat Titans. Earlier, it was heavily reported that the team has been named Ahmedabad Titans. However, there was no official communication from the franchise on the matter till today.

With the Indian Premier League (IPL) expanding to 10 teams from the 2022 season onwards, a franchise each from the CVC group and Sanjeev Goenka's RPSG group made their entries into the existing pool of teams. Lucknow Super Giants is the second franchise that will make its debut in the upcoming IPL season.

As the two teams were to choose three players before the mega-auction, Gujarat Titans attained the services of Hardik Pandya (Rs. 15 crore), Rashid Khan (Rs. 15 crore) and Shubman Gill (Rs. 8 crore). 

Pandya will don the captain's hat for the Titans. The all-rounder will be seen playing competitive cricket for the first time since T20 World Cup 2021. 

"I am looking forward to working with Hardik as a young and new captain. I think he will be really motivated to come in and make a plan and show what he is capable of at this level of the game as a leader. He's a great player. What I have heard is that he is really keen to get into the mix and get involved," Gary Kirsten said as quoted on Star Sports.

Gujarat's team management includes former India pacer Ashish Nehra in the head coach's role. Vikram Solanki is their director of cricket, while Gary Kirsten will join the franchise as mentor and batting coach.