IPL Exclusive | Luke Wood underlines key to success, says 'middle phase will decide who finishes in top four'

Gujarat Titans are on a run of three consecutive wins in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) after they defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday (April 17). Now with six points from five matches, Gujarat will look to build momentum ahead of a crucial run of matches, including Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Chennai. Ahead of the crucial run in IPL 2026, pace sensation Luke Wood spoke to WION’s Aditya Pimpale and opened up on his journey so far with the franchise while underlining key to success.

On a run of three consecutive wins, GT are placed comfortably in the middle table and will aim to build momentum ahead.

Question: Three back-to-back wins for the franchise, how is the morale in the team?

It's nice to get a few wins in a row, build a bit of momentum, sort of going into probably quite an important part of the competition. So that middle phase can really, really sort ofboost your team. So to get three wins in a row is good.

And to win a couple of games away as well has been nice because they can sometimes be a bit of a banana skin. So it's good to win a couple on the road and obviously get our first win at home this season.

Question: It is not easy to sit on the bench and then perform, as we saw with Quinton de Kock, so are you prepared to make an impact in case you are called into action?

I think whenever you're training, you never know what's around the corner is the thing. So it's just about sort of mentally preparing yourself and not going through the motions a little bit. Just sort of sit there thinking you're never going to play.

And then you kind of get into a bit of a negative mind frame. So I think you can't sort of get into that mindset. I think you have to just kind of remain that, focus on your preparations and get what you need to do to feel like, almost like you said, like Quinton de Kock did when he played. He was ready and made his mark.

Like Wood Photograph: (Gujarat Titans)

Question: With a quality coach like Ashish Nehra, do you think you have the best person in charge of the field?

He obviously knows that I've not played a great deal in India compared to some other places. So he's been good at helping with different pitches. And when we're training, he's been very, very helpful in terms of just differences in the red and black soil and what's most effective on different things.

So then when you train, you can kind of know how to prepare for a certain wicket. And then when it comes to play and your time to try and perform, then you have a good advantage that you know the conditions, which he's been very good at.

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Question: When you have quality guys like Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Ishant Sharma, what is the atmosphere like in the training sessions?

I think it's quite interesting to see how sort of different fast bowlers just go about their business. I think when it comes to different balls or different things, like you're trying to work on something, there are different people who do things differently. So you've got different opinions. And yeah, a little like having those sorts of bowlers like KG and Jason Holder.

You've got Rabada, Siraj, Krishna and Ishant. Like, there are so many experienced fast bowlers around you are definitely not sure who to ask about bowling. So it's also interesting to see how different people go about their business.

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Question: GT’s next five fixtures are against quality opposition like MI, CSK, RCB and Punjab. How important is it for you to pick maximum points?

Yeah, I think similar to what I said earlier, like this middle phase is quite important in the actual back end. Because the back end is where it is decided. And you decide where you're going to finish in the group stages and then the finals if you make them. So this is quite big in terms of building that base.

Because I think if you can play the middle phase well, it goes a long way to almost securing that top four spot. But yeah, look, we've got to play some good teams. RCB are a good side. Obviously, I think it's Rajasthan we've got to play. They're in Jaipur, they're a good side. And Punjab have been playing well as well.