IPL 2022: We are not here to just participate, we are here to compete and win, says Gujarat Titans head coach Ashish Nehra

Gujarat Titans is one of the two new entrants to the Indian Premier League. Led by Hardik Pandya, the team had also signed India opener Shubman Gill and Afghanistan's all-rounder Rashid Khan as their three pre-auction signings. Building the team from scratch, Gujarat Titans spent Rs 89.85 crore out of their total kitty of Rs 90 Crore (pre auction and during). Talking to TimesofIndia.com after the auction, Gujarat Titans head coach and former India pacer Ashish Nehra sounded confident ahead of the 15th season of the IPL and the first for the Ahmedabad based franchise. Nehra also sounded a warning to the other teams that they are not here just to participate, but to compete and win.

(Reuters Photo)India all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was not retained by the Mumbai Indians ahead of the auction will be leading Gujarat Titans in their maiden IPL season. It will be very interesting to see how Hardik, who hasn't held a leadership role earlier responds to this challenge at a time when he is working on his own bowling fitness, something that has seen him being sidelined from India selection as well, because he is not being able to perform the role of an all-rounder. It was the same reason perhaps that made MI decide not to retain him.

On being asked how he foresees Hardik Pandya as captain , Nehra said, "When you are talking about a cricketer like Hardik Pandya, you are talking about IPL, there are 10 different teams and if you even see this auction there were two teams who were looking for captains. We are lucky enough we did manage to get somebody like Hardik Pandya before the auction and I really value him as a cricketer. He is a tough player and I hope he comes good. We have a very good relationship, he was really involved,