"He cleaned up the heart, heartbeat and kidney" - Aakash Chopra on Hardik Pandya's 3 wickets in the IPL 2022 final

Aakash Chopra has lauded Hardik Pandya for dismantling the three main pillars of the Rajasthan Royals' (RR) batting lineup in the IPL 2022 final.

Pandya registered figures of 3/17 in his four-over spell as the Gujarat Titans (GT) restricted the Royals to a score of 130/9. The IPL newcomers then chased down the target with seven wickets and 11 deliveries to spare, with their skipper also playing a 34-run knock.

While reviewing the RR-GT clash in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra was all praise for Pandya, saying:

"Hardik the batter, Hardik the captain, Hardik the bowler. The captain came to the forefront in the grand finale, when do you get to see that many times? He picked up three wickets, he cleaned up the heart, heartbeat and kidney."

The former India batter pointed out that Pandya accounted for the three most crucial wickets and then made a vital contribution with the bat. He explained:

"He first dismissed Samson, then Buttler and then Shimron Hetmyer. He broke the back and many times of the opposition batting lineup and then made an important contribution in the batting. Of course, he was not present in the middle to finish the match."

Pandya dismissed Sanju Samson with just the second delivery he bowled when the Royals seemed to be comfortably placed at a score of 60/1.

He then had Jos Buttler caught behind before taking a return catch to dismiss Shimron Hetmyer and reduce RR to a score of 94/5 at the end of the 15th over.

---

"There was only one difference between Gujarat and Rajasthan, that was Hardik Pandya" - Aakash Chopra

Hardik Pandya was duly chosen as the Player of the Match [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra highlighted that Pandya's all-round skills were the telling difference between the two finalists. He elaborated:

"There was only one difference between Gujarat and Rajasthan, that was Hardik Pandya. Both teams had five amazing bowlers, if Rajasthan had a strong top order, Gujarat also had two-three formidable batters. Hardik Pandya was bringing balance, a batter in the top six who does good bowling."

The reputed commentator reiterated that the batting all-rounder's bowling performance almost finished the match as a contest. He observed:

"If we see Hardik's analysis, four overs, 17 runs and three wickets. First, he dismissed Sanju Samson, I thought that was the game-changing moment. Then he dismissed Jos Buttler with a wicket-taking ball and then Shimron Hetmyer, he finished them."

Chopra concluded by stating that Pandya has thrown his hat in the ring for Team India's T20I captaincy if such a need arises in the future.