From rookies to champions: Pandya leads Gujarat Titans to 2022 IPL title

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Having started the 2022 Indian Premier League under a cloud of injuries and as a raw captain, Hardik Pandya handed the title to the Gujarat Titans in his first season in their first match at his home, the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, with a spell. of 4. -0-17-3 and a 34 that relieves the pressure of 30 in the small chase of 131.

Pandya seals it with the ball

Against one of the top two bowling teams on the power play of this IPL, the second being themselves, RR had overcome field restrictions for the loss of only Yashasvi Jaiswal. They were 60 at the start of the ninth, Hardik Pandya’s first. It wasn’t a runaway marker, but on a used surface they had played on two nights ago in Qualifier 2, with the ball grabbing and holding, it wasn’t a bad platform at all.

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When Sanju Samson hit Hardik’s second ball, the GM tried to seize the moment: the captain would be bowling for the first time in the match. The moment would last all of a ball; Samson went for a stand-and-swipe, but the length wasn’t there at all; Hardik had pinned him downfield, kicked the ball, and Samson’s top edge couldn’t even get past the inner ring.

As Mohammed Shami and Lockie Ferguson suffered some punishment when they went for the fuller installments, Hardik had suspected that the shorter, harder length was the way to go on the surface. It’s a length he prefers anyway, and he bowls quite well, at cue-ball cricket. He was finding a seam of that length and making life difficult for Devdutt Padikkal. He had his left nailed into the crease and sliced ​​past its outer edge several times.

Not that Jos Buttler found it easy to push Pandya away. He had pulled and led Mohammed Shami for four successive legs, but when Pandya and Rashid Khan operated in tandem, he was tied down. Buttler had managed just four runs out of four deliveries from Pandya, and at 39 of 34, he was getting a little restless and also tired; he had faced nearly 20 overs in the previous two playoff matches in two corners of the country in Kolkata and Ahmedabad.

The first ball of her third into the trot, Pandya hit the hard length again and managed to almost hold the line. Buttler tried to give it to the third man in one day, and cut him from behind. And RR had lost the best hitter of his, for the chance of a single run.

Pandya was entering now. He slipped for Shimron Hetmyer in the 13th, and let a keeper whiz by as Hetmyer tossed his head inside the line.

There was no reason Pandya wouldn’t launch now, after a 3-0-7-2 comeback. He also kept reacting instantly as a captain; when Hetmyer stepped back and hit him past the middle for a rare four, he immediately put four men deep on the leg side and threw another keeper at Hetmyer. He even came up with a bluff, but Hetmyer was smart and directed the entire shot between the short third man and the point back for four.

Pandya had also given himself one too many earlier in the season, but on Sunday night at his team’s stadium, nothing could go wrong. He had one pitch left on his spell, he threw it a good length, the ball stayed, as if it were a parting gift for all Pandya had done during the season for his team, and a stunned Hetmyer could only pop . back to pattern. With the wickets sealed for the opposition’s three biggest batsmen, Pandya set out on a run that ended past the square-legged umpire, with whom he too found time to banter.

At 94 for 5 after 15 overs, Riyan Parag was RR’s main hope for big hits. He even lasted to the bottom of the innings, but scored just 15 run-a-balls.

unbeatable rashid

Pandya’s backup, Rashid Khan, was unbeatable with his mixture of mis-kicks and quick leg breaks on a shot that gave him some spin. Padikkal needed eight deliveries to hit; his first shot on goal, off Rashid, almost took long. With Pandya’s economic rate rivaling Rashid’s at the other extreme, RR had to attack someone. Padikkal tried to meet Rashid with a strong cut, but the Afghan rarely provided width; the ball slipped, Padikkal’s shot was fired to the third short man and he went for 2-for-10. Pandya was so sure of his vice-captain’s abilities that he gave him two slips for new man Hetmyer.

Easy chase after first nerves

RR had no choice but to go hard for wickets on the power play if they were going to make a contest with a target of just 131. They evicted Wriddhiman Saha and Matthew Wade in the fifth, but GT could afford a power play return 31-for-2. Plus, Yuzvendra Chahal had dropped a nanny on Shubman Gill’s first ball, and the young starter would go on to anchor the chase to a safe, smooth finish. Captain Pandya provided the light push the chase needed in the intermissions. Hardik released the pressure in the ninth, as if he had applied it in the ninth of RR’s innings, with a cut four to Prasidh Krishna’s extra-deep coverage limit. Gill and David Miller completed the remaining paperwork.




Reference-indianexpress.com

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