Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya was delighted after they became the first team to qualify for the playoffs of the ongoing IPL 2023. The defending champions sealed their playoffs berth with a 34-run win against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Monday.
Pandya feels they have ticked a lot of good boxes in the ongoing season to make it to the last four once again. GT has been coming up with a collective show and they were able to put in a good performance against Orange Army.
GT posted a par score of 188 runs against the Aiden Markram-led team after Shubman Gill scored a blistering knock of 101 runs off just 58 balls, which is his first IPL century. Gill and Sai Sudharsan, who was making a return to the playing XI, added a crucial alliance of 147 runs for the second wicket, which is the highest for GT in the ongoing season.
Sudharsan scored 47 runs from 36 balls but GT could not add the finishing touches despite being in a dominant position. On the other hand, Mohammed Shami wreaked havoc with the new ball as he took three early wickets to put the opposition on the mat.
SRH found themselves in all kinds of trouble at 29-4 and they could not recover from that despite Heinrich Klaasen scoring 64 runs from 44 balls for the visitors.
Hardik Pandya lauded his bowlers for their impressive showing against SRH. Mohammed Shami was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with impressive figures of 4-20 in his quota of four overs. Moreover, Mohit Sharma continued to impress as he took 4-28 in his four overs.
Hardik Pandya said in the post-match presentation, “Very proud of the boys, two in two (making it to the playoffs twice in a row). The boys put their hands up and in challenging situations and we rightly deserve the playoff spot. There will be expectations and for me it was important to focus within the group.”
He added, “We ticked a lot of good boxes, we made a lot of errors but we were always there in the game and tried to stay consistent. Bowlers are very close to my heart. Sometimes batters take a lot of credit, for me I will always be a bowler’s captain and ensure they get due credit they very much deserve.”
Gujarat Titans will play their last league stage match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Sunday.
