Why Hardik Pandya is not playing: The captain of Gujarat Titans didn’t field in the second half of their bowling innings today.
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During the 35th match of the ongoing 15th season of the Indian Premier League between Kolkata Knight Riders and Gujarat Titans in Navi Mumbai, Gujarat Titans beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 8 runs to become the first team to win six matches this season.
Captain Hardik Pandya, who became the first captain to win the toss and bat first in IPL 2022, led from the front by taking the responsibility of batting at No. 3 – doing so after six years in the IPL.
Top-scoring for Titans, Pandya contributed with his 67 (49) comprising of four fours and two sixes being the only positive points for their team in an otherwise below par batting performance.
Had it not been for fast bowler Mohammed Shami and vice-captain Rashid Khan registering combined bowling figures of 8-0-42-4, defending a lowest IPL 2022 innings total of 157 runs would’ve been next to impossible for GT.
Why Hardik Pandya is not playing vs KKR today?
Pandya, who had missed their last match against defending champions Chennai Super Kings due to a groin injury, went off the ground around the halfway mark at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy tonight.
While Pandya didn’t seem to be in trouble whilst batting, it was in the seventh over that he provided first signs of facing some difficulty on the field. It was in his attempt to prevent a ball from reaching the boundary that Pandya dived to cause some discomfort to himself.
As a result, Pandya was spotted in the dugout throughout the innings as Rashid Khan once again performed captaincy duties in the middle. For now, there has been no official statement about the extent of Pandya’s injury.
