‘Won’t appreciate it…': Unhappy Hardik Pandya's ‘bitter pill’ reminder for GT batters after narrow win vs PBKS
After beating PBKS, GT captain Hardik Pandya said that he would not like his batters to take the match to the last over after being in a commanding position.
The Gujarat Titans got off to flier courtesy Wriddhiman Saha and at the end of the powerplay, it appeared that the defending champions would knock off Punjab Kings' 154-run target with some overs to spare. It continued the same way even after Saha was dismissed for a quickfire 30 off 19 balls as Gill took centrestage. The India opener displayed some stylish strokes to keep GT's run rate well above the asking rate. But somehow, the runs slowly started to dry up from the other end.
The very impressive Sai Sudharsan was not at his best and was dismissed by Arshdeep Singh after scoring 19 off 20 balls. Even then, GT were ahead in the chase. Captain Hardik Pandya walked in and played a classic over drive but failed to rotate the strike in the middle overs and was finally out trying to play a cross-batted heave off Harpreet Brar.
David Miller joined Gill when GT 48 off 34 balls. The required rate was still under 8 runs per over. Gill gathered the occasional boundary but Miller got stuck and PBKS managed to drag them to the last over.
Watch: Tewatia creates deja vu with outrageous shot when 4 was needed off 2
With 7 runs to get, Curran dished out stunning yorkers and even got the wicket of Gill but Rahul Tewatia played a stunning lap shot to seal victory in the penultimate ball of the match.
But it really should not have gotten that close. After the match GT captain Hardik Pandya acknowledged that and added that he would not like his batters to take the match to the last over after being in a commanding position.
"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," Pandya said in the post-match presentation.
Hardik said the batters should have taken more risks in the middle overs.
"They bowled really well.We should take risks and play shots in the middle overs, need to make sure the game doesn't go so deep. The ball was getting dried up, but the wicket was a belter. It would have been a tough pill to swallow if the game had gone the other way. I would like to finish the game earlier, not a big fan of taking it to the last over," he added.
GT's top-scorer Shubman Gill also agreed that should have finished off the game. "Wicket got a bit challenging in the end. Was harder to hit sixes with the old ball. It's a big ground. Was important to keep hitting the gaps, run as hard as possible. I should've finished the match."
