Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya said the loss against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday turned out to be a big lesson for his side. Defending the 178-run target, Gujarat Titans bowlers put them on the top by dismissing Rajasthan Royals’ in-form opening pair Yashasvi Jaiswal and Joss Buttler inside the powerplay. The Royals were on the backfoot in the first half of the chase but Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer exploded in the second half to help them win the match by three wickets.
“That’s the beauty about this game. The game is never over. That was the message to the boys as well. The game is never over until it’s over. So I think this is one more lesson for us,” Hardik said in the post-match presentation.
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Hardik also talked about using Noor Ahmed as an Impact Player in the crunch situation of the game.
“He’s someone who is difficult to pick as well. He actually bowled well. I don’t want to be harsh on him. He got us a big breakthrough which we wanted but I think the other bowlers did not execute,” he said.
The defending champions are currently placed at the third spot on the points table, but Hardik feels that it’s a long tournament and they have to play quality cricket in the coming matches.
“It’s a very long tournament. Obviously, all these losses remind you at the end of the tournament reminds you if you are not on the other side but it’s still a very long tournament. A lot of matches left. We still need to play a lot of good cricket even if we had won today,” he said.
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David Miller provided the finishing touch to the Titans’ innings and helped them post 177/7 but Hardik said that they were still 10 runs short.
“I felt we were short some runs at the innings break. They bowled some good overs but we should have gone harder to put the game [out of reach] and get a 200 total. When I was watching outside, I did feel we were maybe 10 runs short,” he said.
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