Gujarat Titans have booked their place in the Indian Premier League final. The Hardik Pandya-led team, who made its debut in the tournament this year, defeated Rajasthan Royals by 7 wickets and successfully chased down 189 in Qualifier 1 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Former India head coach Ravi Shastri heaped praise on Hardik Pandya’s leadership and said he is showing a burning desire to win the IPL 2022 trophy.
In the Qualifier 1, Pandya led from the front with the bat, scoring a crucial 40 not out. He stitched a 106-run partnership with David Miller in a well-paced chase, achieving the target with three balls to spare. Pandya had a few hiccups with the bat in the tournament, but he has emerged as Gujarat’s leading run-getter in IPL 2022. The all-rounder is very well settled in his new role of batting at No. 4. Pandya has scored 453 runs in 14 matches at an average of 45.30.
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In a chat with Star Sports, Shastri shared that he has been quite impressed with the way Pandya has gone about in his first stint as a captain of an IPL team. “There is a burning desire to win, being a team from Gujarat, the final is in Gujarat, he wants to take that there,” he said.
Shastri has worked closely with Pandya during his tenure as head coach. He revealed that Pandya always wanted to bat higher up the order and captaincy has simply done wonders to his batting.
“He has tremendous confidence in his ability. He reads the game extremely well. He always wanted to bat higher up the order He can bat like a No. 4 batter,” Shastri said, adding that Pandya knows his role and what is required and for captaining the side.
The last over got all Gujarat and Rajasthan fans on the edge of their seats. When 17 runs were needed off 6 deliveries, Miller hit 3 sixes in the first 3 balls to book a berth for his team in the finals of IPL 2022. Shastri lauded Pandya for taking a backseat and letting Miller do the heavy-lifting i.
Shastri said that “if he were on strike for the final over, he might have done exactly what David Miller did. He kept his cool.”
Keywords: Gujarat Titans, Ravi Shastri, Hardik Pandya, Qualifier 1, IPL 2022
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