IPL 2026 | From setback to surge: Shahrukh Khan finds clarity in Hayden’s wisdom

CHENNAI: Life as a cricketer can be quite unpredictable. One day you are ruling the world, and the next, you are staring at a big question mark around your place in the team.

It has been no different for Shahrukh Khan, who followed a big TNPL high with an astonishing low for Tamil Nadu, where the aggressive batter was dropped from Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) squad after just four games. Across those clashes, the right-hander could only muster 3 (5), 6 (5), 7 (9) and 2 (5).

While that can shake anyone off their game, the 31-year-old looked at it as an opportunity to perform to the best of his abilities in the future. “Been in cricket long enough to know that all these ups and downs are part and parcel of the sport,” Shahrukh told DT Next.

“Everyone goes through them, and it is a similar case for me. The truth has been that it has been tough for Tamil Nadu and me in the last six months but the most important thing is to try and see what’s in front of you, and do it to the best of your abilities,” he further added.

But that setback proved to be a reset as the right-hander worked extensively on his game before joining the Gujarat Titans camp, where he has been plying his Indian Premier League (IPL) trade from the past few years. Shahrukh, who first moved to the Titans in 2024, has enjoyed two bright seasons for them, with strike rates of 169.33 (2024) and 179.00 (2025).

In particular, the Tamil Nadu man smashed 179 runs in just 100 balls last year – his best-ever run tally in IPL. Shahrukh feels that having someone as trustworthy as Ashish Nehra certainly made a world of difference to his own game.

“Yeah, it [coach’s trust] does make a big difference,” he adds. “Ashish [Nehra] has been one of the most successful coaches in the IPL history. And it is visible in the way he gives freedom to players and the amount of clarity that he gives to the players is quite useful, it allows us to go out there and express ourselves without worrying too much.”

Alongside Nehra, the swashbuckling batter has also got the opportunity this year to work closely with destructive Australian legend, Matthew Hayden, who was appointed as GT’s batting coach.

“I have been following [Matthew] Hayden for quite some time, when he first started playing for CSK, obviously. I was a young kid who used to watch him from the stands at Chepauk, it has been really good to have him around,” he recollects. “His inputs are on point, and are really simple. They are things that get you going, in terms of your mindset, he’s someone who is always switched on. It is always nice to have that Aussie flavour in your dressing room, he’s like a brother to all of us.”

Without doing anything extravagant, Hayden has made a remarkable difference to the Tamil Nadu batter helping him build a strong base, which in return, has helped him improve his power-hitting extensively.

“The striking abilities are definitely getting better, and the thing he’s [Hayden] asked me to do is ‘have a strong base’, and I have learned a lot from that. Whatever he is saying is right because I’m able to get under the ball as early as possible, for yorkers, and having a stronger base definitely helps power-hitting.” Given his role as a finisher, Shahrukh has had his task cut out, with a lot of emphasis on tackling the different variations that the bowlers employ against him at the death.

“I have been trying to dig out a lot of yorkers possible because there are only few deliveries that bowlers go to at the death: yorkers, wide outside off, or a slower one. I have been working in the nets to tackle these deliveries, and Hayden has worked quite closely in that sense to have a wider base, which allows me to connect these deliveries more often than not.”

One running joke that has followed the Titans’ setup is their moniker – Gujarat Tamizhans – as the franchise is home to three of TN’s biggest talents, Sai Sudharsan, Sai Kishore and Shahrukh himself.

“It is nice to have people talk in Tamil around you, as a Tamilian you know. Besides, we have been playing cricket together since the Under-14 days, so it has been really good to have them around. It is not that we don’t gel with the others, we are a unit, so we all are quite close that way as a team,” he quipped.