Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya mentioned his group “rightly deserve” a spot within the playoffs of the IPL 2023 after a convincing 34-run win over Sunrisers Hyderebad right here on Monday.
Shubman Gill slammed 101 off simply 58 balls — his maiden IPL century — to energy GT to 188 for 9 regardless of a late comeback by SRH’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar (5/30).
In reply, SRH was restricted to 154 for 9, as GT grew to become the primary group to enter the playoffs this season.
“Very proud of the boys, two in two (making it to the playoffs twice in a row). The boys put their hands up and in challenging situations and we rightly deserve the playoff spot,” Hardik mentioned on the post-match presentation.
“There will be expectations and for me, it was important to focus within the group. We ticked a lot of good boxes, we made a lot of errors but we were always there in the game and tried to stay consistent,” he added.
After Gill and Sai Sudharsan (47 off 36 balls) laid the muse for a robust complete with their 147-run partnership for the second wicket — which was nonetheless wasted by the opposite batters — the likes of Mohammed Shami (4/21) and Mohit Sharma (4/28) shone with the ball to chop quick SRH’s marketing campaign.
Impressed with their effort, Hardik known as himself a bowler’s captain.
“Bowlers are very close to my heart. Sometimes batters take a lot of credit, for me I will always be a bowler’s captain and ensure they get due credit that they very much deserve,” Hardik mentioned.
Recalling his IPL debut towards SRH, man-of-the-match Gill mentioned it has come a full circle for him.
“My IPL debut was against SRH, now I’ve my IPL hundred against them. Quite pleased. It’s come a full circle. Hopefully, I’ll get more hundreds this season,” Gill mentioned.
“I’m not the kind of person who dwells too much on my last innings. The focus is on what’s needed at the moment. The most satisfying moment was to hit Abhishek (Sharma) for a six because he is my childhood friend.” Out of reckoning for a spot within the playoffs, SRH skipper Aiden Markram mentioned his group will play for satisfaction in its remaining two video games.
“A lot of pride for us to play for. We’ll try to give some opportunities if we’re allowed to. It’ll be nice to finish off the tournament in good spirits but unfortunately, we haven’t been good enough in the tournament this year,” Markram mentioned.
“When a team is one down in the backend, it can go either of the two ways. It was important to break the partnership and Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar) did that for us. He’s been exceptional for us and Nattu (T Natarajan) as well.”
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com