Hardik Pandya Injury Update: The captain of Gujarat Titans was unable to complete his third over at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy tonight.
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Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya is enjoying his maiden Indian Premier League season as a captain. Pandya, who labeled the additional responsibility as “fun”, has led Titans to the top of the points table on the back of winning four out of their first five IPL 2022 matches.
Pandya, 28, who hadn’t played a lot of cricket coming in to the 15th season of the biggest T20 tournament across the globe, has contributed across divisions and how this season.
“Captaincy is fun and it allows me to take responsibility and be the flag-bearer. The group carries one another. The team is gelling well. I wanted all of us to be happy for each other’s happiness. That is working well for the team,” Pandya told Star Sports during the post-match presentation ceremony.
GT have been the surprise package of the season. Lots of credit should go to @hardikpandya7 and Nehra ji. Both are quite relaxed characters and keep things simple. Hardik definitely the standout new captain of this season. #RRvGT #IPL2022
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) April 14, 2022
Hardik Pandya Injury Update
Having promoted himself to No. 4 this season, Pandya has stood tall on his batting potential scoring 228 runs in five innings at an average of 76 and a strike rate of 136.52 to be the second-highest run-scorer.
A couple of early wickets in the recently concluded match against Rajasthan Royals witnessed Pandya walking in to bat in the third over. A match-winning sixth IPL half-century saw Pandya scoring 87* (52) with the help of eight fours and four sixes to power Titans to 192/4 in 20 overs.
“I am not used to batting this long. It gives me a lot of time. I can calculate and take risk. The last game it did not come off but today I made sure I did. I have been in this situation where I have taken the role of scoring 12-ball 30. It is difficult but now at [number] four I can control the game,” Pandya said.
With Rajasthan opening batter Jos Buttler scoring boundaries left, right and centre in the powerplay, Pandya had no option than to introduce himself in the bowling attack. Pandya, who had run out his counterpart Sanju Samson (11), followed it with a caught and bowled to dismiss James Neesham (17) to become a deserving candidate of his seventh IPL Player of the Match award.
That being said, a consequence of all of this was Pandya struggling with his fitness on the field. In what started with him leaving the ground at first, it appeared to have become serious after Pandya opted to not complete his third over. While fans couldn’t help but think of Pandya injuring his back again, he shared a relieving clarity on his injury after the match.
“It was just cramps, nothing serious,” Pandya mentioned to ease down the tension of his fans. GT will be playing their next match against Chennai Super Kings in Pune on Sunday.
