“In the next few games, he is going to do something special” - Abhinav Manohar backs Hardik Pandya to come good soon

Gujarat Titans (GT) batter Abhinav Manohar has asserted that the franchise is not too concerned about the lack of runs from skipper Hardik Pandya’s blade. He predicted that the all-rounder will do “something special” with the bat in the next few matches.

Pandya was dismissed for 13 off 14 balls in Gujarat’s IPL 2023 match against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, April 25. He perished trying to take on Piyush Chawla. While GT have had an impressive run so far, their captain has only managed 128 runs in six matches at an average of 21.33 and a strike rate of 117.43.

Despite Pandya’s failure, GT beat MI by 55 runs in Tuesday’s encounter. Batting first, they posted 207/6 on the board and then restricted Mumbai to 152/9. At a post-match press conference, Manohar batted for Pandya and said:

"Hardik is a world class batter. It's just a matter of time. I'm sure he is going to come in and in the next few games, he is going to do something special.”

Manohar was the Player of the Match for his blazing 42 off only 21 balls. He struck three fours and as many sixes to give Gujarat’s innings impetus in the second half. Speaking about the improvement in his batting, he said:

“Last year, I was a bit slow on the field, that’s something that I’ve worked on throughout the year and my striking ability has improved since last year that’s due to a lot of throw downs.”

The 28-year-old has so far featured in 12 IPL matches, scoring 194 runs at an average of 19.40 and a strike rate of 159.02.

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“I think our team trains the most” - Abhinav Manohar

Manohar also hailed the Gujarat Titans for their extensive training sessions, which, according to him, have played a big role in the franchise’s success. He commented:

“I think our team trains the most, it has the longest practice hours so we get to bat a lot as batsmen so that really helps us out there in the middle. We have done it so many times; it just becomes a muscle memory to do it while we play a game.”

In the game against MI, Manohar added 71 with David Miller (46 off 22). Asked about the experience of batting with Miller, he asserted:

“He being there, talking to me, calms me down when I’m batting over there.”

Defending champions Gujarat are second in the IPL 2023 points table with five wins and two losses.