Some of the shots Gaikwad played had nothing to do with our bowling: Pandya

Full credit to him for the way he batted and if he continues to do so, he will do wonders for Indian cricket. He has the game and I am sure when the time comes, the Indian cricket team will back him enough,” Pandya said

When Gujarat Titans named Hardik Pandya as captain, cynics had questioned that decision, but he went on to win the Indian Premier League in the franchise’s debut season last year. This year, they emerged victorious against the man he idolises—MS Dhoni—in the tournament opener on Saturday. 

The India all-rounder was happy with the five-wicket win, but at the same time he accepted that the Titans had a lot to learn and could have even lost to Chennai Super Kings. “[It’s] good to start the tournament with a win, but we can learn quite a lot of things from this victory and even if we had lost, we would have learnt a lot,” Pandya said in a measured tone at the post-match media interaction that literally went into the next day. 

Chennai Super Kings opener Ruturaj Gaikwad en route his 50-ball 92 against Gujarat Titans at Ahmedabad on Friday. Pic/AFP

Hardik was obviously happy, but didn’t mince words in holding himself and Shubman Gill (63 off 36 balls, 6x4, 3x6) guilty of playing false shots that brought CSK back in the game. “A couple of shots from myself and Shubman put us in a difficult situation,” he admitted. Fortunately, Vijay Shankar (27 off 21 balls, 2x4, 1x6), Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia ensured that the Titans won with four balls to spare. “What Rashid did, we expect and show a lot of trust and confidence in his batting, which has shown again and again,” Pandya pointed out. 

The Titans captain praised Ruturaj Gaikwad’s innings, which he thought could have put them out of the game, but refused to blame his bowlers for the carnage. “Some of the shots Rutu [Gaikwad] played had nothing to do with the bowling. He played cricketing shots and we couldn’t find areas to bowl to him. He played some outrageous shots. 

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Full credit to him for the way he batted and if he continues to do so, he will do wonders for Indian cricket. He has the game and I am sure when the time comes, the Indian cricket team will back him enough,” Pandya said. 

“At one point, it looked like CSK would score 220-230. I genuinely felt that today we could not get him [Gaikwad] out at all. As a bowling unit and as a captain, that made my job more difficult,” he said. 

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