'Show temperament like Dhoni': Manjrekar blames Gill after Hardik's 'won't appreciate game to go this deep' complaint
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar pointed his fingers at Shubman Gill after Hardik's complaint.
IPL 2023 on Thursday witnessed another last-over thriller. It seems to have almost become a trend this season. Although, Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya seemed unhappy that how the team won against Punjab Kings in Mohali. Despite a six-wicket win which helped the team bounce back from the Rinku Singh onslaught in the last match, but Hardik felt the chase of 154 could have been wrapped up much earlier. And former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar pointed his fingers at Shubman Gill after Hardik's complaint.
After restricting Pubjab for 153 for eight, Gujarat got off to a steady start with opener Wriddhiman Saha smashing five boundaries in his 19-ball 30. The opening pair managed 49 off 20 balls before Saha departed. Gill then single-handedly anchored the innings with his 67 off 49 before he departed with 6 needed off 4. Eventually it was 'ice man' Rahul Tewatia who held his nerves in the penultimate ball to smash Sam Curran for a boundary to helped GT script a win.
After the match, a disappointed Hardik had said, "To be very honest I would not appreciate for the game to go this deep. There was definitely a lot for us to learn from this game. That's the beauty of sports, it's never over till it's over. We need to go back to the drawing board."
Manjrekar, in conversation with ESPNCricinfo, pointed fingers at Gill for unnecessarily taking the game to the last over and also lashed out at the India star for not being able to complete the game. Manjrekar felt that Gill should take a leaf out of MS Dhoni's book and learn the art of finishing games.
“Champion teams are those who are mindful of their weak areas even when winning matches and tackle the same. Against KKR, there was a clear lesson for Gujarat that on the good pitch don’t play with only five bowlers," he said.
"From this game, the takeaway is that if a batter is set, he should try and finish the game in the 18th or 19th over. If you are taking it till the end, show a temperament like MS Dhoni and don’t get out. Shubman Gill might be asked how the game went to the 20th over. Sai Sudharsan scored at a strike rate of around 100. David Miller was also rather quiet," he added.
