Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya feels Lockie Ferguson’s over changed the momentum in their favor against Delhi Capitals in the 10th match of the Indian Premier League 2022 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Saturday after they won by 14 runs. The Titans had put 171 runs on the board after Rishabh Pant won the toss and decided to bowl first.
Pandya feels his team was 10-15 runs short of a par score but he was confident of making it up in the field as they have a potent bowling unit. Meanwhile, Lockie Ferguson turned the match on its head in the 15th over of the run-chase as he accounted for a well-settled Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel.
The New Zealander dismissed Delhi Capitals captain with a short-pitched delivery whereas Patel was dismissed on an innocuous delivery down the leg-side.
Ferguson was at his lethal best as he returned with impressive figures of 4-24 in his four overs. The gun fast bowler also dismissed Mandeep Singh and Prithvi Shaw, both of them getting out to short-pitched deliveries.
Hardik Pandya said in the post-match presentation, “Really happy with the way boys are coming out and contributing. The kind of attack we have, we always felt that we can make a score that’s 10 under-par look like 25 above. I thought there were periods where Delhi was ahead, but then that Lockie over really changed things for us. We were about 10-15 short. But with the bowling we have, I’m confident of making it up in the field. We were one bowler short with Aaron’s injury, had to take it as deep as possible and it worked for us. Till Rishabh was there, the game was in the balance or maybe Delhi was ahead, and that over from Lockie really turned it for us. This is the Shubman we all want to see and I hope all the other batters can take confidence from him.”
Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya has been leading from the front as he scored 31 runs from 27 balls whereas he scalped one wicket. Furthermore, he conceded only 22 runs in his quota of four overs.
Gujarat Titans have got off to a good start in IPL 2022 as they have won both of their matches. The Titans will look to continue their good show in the upcoming matches and this good start would have given them a lot of confidence.
Hardik Pandya-led will nex face Punjab Kings at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on Friday.
