Aakash Chopra acknowledged the notable improvement in Hardik Pandya’s impact as a captain, who led the Titans to their first-ever IPL victory last season.
At the Narendra Modi International Stadium in Ahmedabad on April 25, the Gujarat Titans claimed an impressive 55-run victory over the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2023. Shubman Gill’s half-century, along with contributions from David Miller and Abhinav Manohar, helped the Titans pile up a massive total of 207 runs while batting first. In response, Mumbai struggled to keep up, with Nehal Wadhera being their highest scorer with 40 runs off 21 balls.
The Titans’ Afghan spin duo of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad picked up five wickets between them, contributing to the team’s success. With this win, Gujarat moved to the second spot in the team standings with ten points, just behind Chennai on net run rate.
Hardik’s captaincy just seems to keep improving: Aakash
“It’s hard to win a match from a defensive position, we’ve seen this in the IPL. The point about captaincy was very salient. The game started with fast bowlers bowling quite often with discipline due to the movement of the ball. Soon after, spinners were introduced at the right time. They made an error last game in judging the dew and brought Noor at the end and Hetmyer punished him. He learned from that and ensured Noor’s overs were done earlier. Rashid and Noor, two spinners with five wickets, and Hardik’s captaincy just seems to keep improving,”
Chopra said.
Mumbai Indians leaked too many runs during Gujarat Titans’ innings, which was particularly evident during the last few overs. Parthiv Patel believes that Mumbai’s bowling attack has significant shortcomings that need to be addressed. He also pointed out that it’s not just a one-time occurrence. He added that if such a performance happens twice, a pattern starts to emerge.
Follow us on Twitter for more!
