Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya took the blame on his shoulders after they suffered a five-run loss against Delhi Capitals at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Tuesday. While chasing a below-par score of 131 runs, the reigning champions could only manage 125-6 in their batting innings.
Pandya scored 59 runs from 53 balls and he could not change gears when it was required. The GT captain scored seven fours in his knock but could only score his runs at a strike rate of 111.32.
Pandya admitted that he could not get going on a pitch he felt wasn’t difficult to bat on. In fact, Rahul Tewatia smashed three sixes in 7-ball 20 towards the end but it was not enough to see GT get through.
Hardik Pandya said in the post-match presentation, “We would have taken 129 on any given day. Just lost a couple of wickets and in the end, Rahul got us back in the game. I tried my best in the end but it was not to be. ( On the discussion with Abhinav Manohar) We were hoping to get couple of big overs in the middle but we couldn’t get rhythm. It was new for Abhinav as well and it boils down on how I could not finish the game. Full marks to the bowlers and full ownership I couldn’t finish it. Wicket was good enough, it was wicket pressure. They bowled really well, 10 overs for 80 we would have taken. In the end, Rahul got us in the game, otherwise they were quite ahead. We lost this game because I couldn’t get my rhythm.”
Meanwhile, earlier, Mohammed Shami bowled a hot spell as he returned with impressive figures of 4-11 in his four overs quota. Shami accounted for Phillip Salt, Rilee Rossouw, Priyam Garg, and Manish Pandey as he got the new ball to swing both ways.
On Shami’s superb spell, Pandya said, “I feel sorry for him, if you bowl like that, and restrict a team to 129 and still not win, the batters disappointed. I don’t think the wicket did a lot but full credit to him. It is still lots of games left, we will take all learning from this game and move on. All these things keep happening, that’s the beauty of IPL. We are still on top of the table but we still need to play good cricket.”
Pandya would have been disappointed with his batting effort as he could not get a move on with the bat. GT will next take on Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on Friday.
