Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya admits Glenn Maxwell’s blistering knock of 40 runs off just 18 balls made them feel that they were 10 runs short against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Thursday. GT posted a fighting score of 168 runs after Pandya decided to bat first.
The GT captain lead from the front as he scored his fourth fifty of the Tata IPL 2022. Pandya scored an unbeaten knock of 62 runs from 47 balls whereas Wriddhiman Saha and David Miller contributed with 31 and 34 runs respectively.
On the other hand, RCB got off to a perfect start as Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis added 115 runs for the opening alliance – which is franchise’s best opening stand of the season. Kohli played like the old Kohli we know as he was pumped up during his fine knock of 73 runs off 54 balls.
The talisman did had the rub of the green on his side in the initial stage of the innings and got his team in a shoo-in position. Glenn Maxwell was also lucky as the bail didn’t came off despite hitting the stumps on the first ball he faced. The Australian was then able to hit the ground running as he scored at a brisk pace.
Hardik Pandya feels they just had a par score but Glenn Maxwell whirlwind knock took the game away from them.
Hardik Pandya said in the post-match presentation, “We had just a par score. The ball was stopping here and there and we were happy with 168. We wanted to give Lockie the opportunity, but the wicket was holding a bit. So we wanted to go for bowlers who bowled slower ones and took pace off the ball. We pulled things back in the middle but the way Maxwell played in the end made us feel we were 10 runs short. We are on the right tack and we just need to look after losing back to back wickets. The learning is to make sure we don’t do it in the playoffs. It is always good to score runs. The way the boys are gelling and the way we are going, it is a learning for the players. I don’t know about Saha’s injury. He was feeling his hamstring and it was a precautionary measure to keep him off the field.”
Gujarat Titans will play the first qualifier on Tuesday at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
