'To be very honest, I would not appreciate': Hardik Pandya's stern message to GT players

Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya gave a stern warning to his team, despite the team’s win against Punjab Kings in match no. 18 of Indian Premier League 2023. The defending champions pulled off a victory in the final over of the high-octane clash and joined Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants at the top of the IPL 2023 points table with six points from four games. However, the victory didn’t satisfy the Gujarat Titans captain as he felt the team should have won the match much earlier than they actually did.

“To be very honest, I would not appreciate the game to go this close from the situation we were in. There was definitely a lot for us to learn from this game. That's the beauty of sports, it's never over till it's over,” Pandya said. Chasing a moderate total of 154 runs, GT were off to a flying start with a 48-run stand in 28 balls. While Wriddhiman Saha’s wicket in the 5th over, followed wickets of Sai Sudharsan, and Hardik Pandya, GT stood at 147/3 in 19 overs with only seven runs needed to win.

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However, the visitors then Shubman’s wicket in the second ball of the final over on 67 off 49, which reduced them to 148/4. This came as a major blow for GT since they had a new batsman on the crease in a pressure situation. To their relief, Rahul Tewatia and David Miller exchanged a couple of singles in the next two balls, before securing the win with a boundary.

"We will go back to the drawing board"

“So we will go back to the drawing board. I think we can take a couple more risks in the middle overs. The wicket was good but because of the hardness of the soil and wicket, the ball was getting dried up,” the GT captain added.

Meanwhile, Pandya also shed light on his team’s bowling effort in the first innings, which marked the IPL return of a 2015 World Cup star for India. Playing his first IPL game since 2020, which also turned out to be his debut for the franchise, paceman Mohit Sharma starred with figures of 2/18. At the same time, the star-studded bowling lineup consisting of Mohammed Shami, Joshua Little, Alzarri Joseph, and Rashid Khan chipped in with a wicket each.

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“It was a belter when the new ball was playing. I was not surprised when Mohit and Alzarri came. They bowled terrific. And credit to Mohit.  To come join us as a net bowler and then wait for his chance, knowing his time will come and today it came. It will be a tough pill to swallow, taking it this close. Not a big fan of taking the game to the last over,” Pandya told the match presenter.