Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya admitted they conceded 15 runs extra after their 15-run loss against Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Tuesday in the first qualifier. CSK posted a par score of 172 runs on the board after Hardik Pandya won the toss and decided to bowl first.
The CSK openers – Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway – added 49 runs in the Powerplay overs to give another good start to their team. The pair added 87 runs for the opening stand in 10.3 overs before Gaikwad was dismissed. The right-hander scored 60 runs from 44 balls whereas Conway also played a crucial knock of 40 runs from 34 balls.
Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, and Ravindra Jadeja played pivotal cameos to help their team get past the 170-run mark.
On the other hand, Gujarat Titans kept losing wickets at regular intervals as the pitch provided assistance to the spinners. Shubman Gill top-scored with 42 runs whereas Rashid Khan gave a glimmer of hope to GT with his cameo of 16-ball 30 but the visitors were always chasing the game.
Ravindra Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers for CSK as the veteran returned with figures of 2-18 in his quota of four overs. Jadeja accounted for Dasun Shanaka and David Miller and also became the first left-arm spinner to take 150 wickets in IPL history.
Hardik Pandya feels his team could neither deliver with the ball nor with the bat and thus it led to their downfall. However, the all-rounder remained confident of bouncing back in the all-important second qualifier.
Hardik Pandya said in the post-match presentation, “I think we were quite spot-on (with the ball), but we made basic errors and that cost us the game. The kind of bowlers we had, I felt we conceded 15 extra runs. A lot of things we did right. We bowled a couple of soft balls in between. We were executing our plans and then in between we gave some runs.”
Darshan Nalkande was taken for 44 runs in his quota of four overs whereas Rashid Khan, who is always economical for GT, conceded 37 runs in his four overs and it proved to be the difference.
GT will either face Mumbai Indians or Lucknow Super Giants in the second qualifier, which will take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Friday.
