“HARDIK the BOWLER is back”: Harbhajan Singh praises Hardik Pandya for his excellent bowling spell during GT vs RR IPL 2022 final

Harbhajan Singh praises Hardik Pandya after latter took charge of Titans’ bowling attack, thereby restricting RR on a below par total.

During the grand finale of the 15^th season of the Indian Premier League at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, the Gujarat Titans (GT) have restricted the Rajasthan Royals (RR) at a paltry and perhaps an under-par score of 130/9 in their 20 Overs.

Staying true to their approach, it was Yashasvi Jaiswal (22 off 16) who played the role of the aggressor, smashing a Four and a couple of Sixes, while Jos Buttler (39 off 35) took his trusted, cautious approach at during the Powerplay.

However, just when RR needed to up the ante, the GT skipper Hardik Pandya stepped up with the ball, and consistently bowled the back of the length deliveries with perfection and decent enough pace, to trouble the batters right from the get-go.

With his eventual bowling figures of 4-0-17-3, Pandya got rid of the Orange Cap holder Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (14 off 11), and Shimron Hetmyer (11 off 12) – RR’s three best batters this season, to puncture the spirits of the rest of the batting line-up.

Harbhajan Singh praises Hardik Pandya

Highly impressed by Hardik Pandya’s bowling effort in the night of the final, former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh took to his Twitter handle to acknowledge and praise the GT skipper.

HARDIK the BOWLER is back .. what a spell captain 🔝👏@hardikpandya7 @gujarat_titans

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) May 29, 2022

Apart from being the highest run-scorer for Gujarat in their debut season, Pandya, with 8 wickets at an average of 27.75, has also impressed with the ball in hand.

Moreover, the 28-year-old has also surprised a significant section of the Cricket fans with his captaincy skills, after not much had been expected of him pre-season due to his elongated battle with injury since the T20 World Cup in UAE last year.

About the author

Gurpreet Singh

Gurpreet Singh is a Cricket writer at The Sportsrush. His platonic relationship with sports had always been there since childhood, but Cricket managed to strike a special, intimate nerve of his heart. Although his initial dream of playing the sport at the highest level couldn't come to fruition, Gurpreet did represent the state of Jharkhand at the under-14 level. However, almost like taking a pledge to never let the undying passion for Cricket fade away even a tad, he made sure to continue the love relationship by assigning the field of journalism as an indirect Cupid. He thus, first finished his bachelor's in journalism and then pursued the PG Diploma course in English journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). Soon after and since 2019, he has been working at The Sportsrush. Apart from sports, he takes keen interest in politics, and in understanding women and gender-related issues.

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