Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya admits to be “10 runs short” after losing Indian Premier League 2023 Match 23 to Rajasthan Royals in Ahmedabad. Asked to bat first by visiting captain Sanju Samson (60), the hosts put on board a challenging 179/7 but the presence of dew was expected to make their life difficult.
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The fact that Royals scored 125 runs in the last 9.2 overs hands a solid validation to Pandya’s observation of the proceedings tonight. Apart from losing a match from a winning position, Titans also astonished one and all with the choice of their Impact Player.
Having mostly called up pacer Josh Little as a substitute while defending a total, GT didn’t make any announcement during the innings break on Sunday. It was only after the 12th over that Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad replaced injured batter Shubman Gill (45).
In what was his maiden outing in the biggest T20 league around the world, Ahmed was introduced into the attack in the 15th over. Got hit for a six and a four by Samson, the 18-year old player held his nerve to send him back to the pavilion on the following ball. A bigger surprise than including Ahmed was Pandya handing him the ball ahead of Alzarri Joseph (0/47) and Mohit Sharma (0/7) with only seven runs left to defend in the 20th over.
“He’s someone who is difficult to pick as well. He actually bowled well. I don’t want to be harsh on him. He got us a big breakthrough which we wanted but I think the other bowlers did not execute,” Pandya said of Ahmad whilst speaking to host broadcaster Star Sports Network after the match.
Although Pandya didn’t name any “other bowler”, his expressions were quite dejecting when pacer Mohammed Shami (3/25) leaked 16 runs in the penultimate over. With Shami getting for a six down the ground, a four via a cut and another six via a pull, him being all over the place with his line and length hurt his team in a crunch situation.
Hardik Pandya Dismisses Injury Concerns
Pandya, who scored 28 (19) with the bat in hand, opened the bowling with Shami. With both the right-handed bowlers swinging the new ball at will, RR were reduced to 2/4 in the third over for a reason.
Narendra Modi Stadium was also witness to a rare instance of two bowlers bowling throughout the powerplay in this format. Pandya, who was looking feeling some discomfort in his third over probably because of breathlessness, ended up completing his spell in one go.
Pandya, who unintentionally sends shock waves to his fans on the back of facing even the slightest of discomforts on a cricket field since his back surgery, clarified that he is absolutely fine. “[My] Body is good. Everything is good. Don’t worry,” Pandya said at the end of the discussion.
