Hardik Pandya brought up his first half-century as the Gujarat Titans (GT) captain and remained unbeaten as they posted 162/7 in their 20 overs.
The fifty was also the 28-year-old's slowest in the IPL, with Pandya consuming 42 deliveries to reach the figure.
It was a very uncharacteristic innings from Hardik Pandya, given that he is currently one of the most dangerous hitters in white-ball cricket. The added responsibility of the captaincy and his new role of anchoring the innings is what might have stopped him from playing freely.
Fans on Twitter were a bit baffled and disappointed by Hardik Pandya's approach against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Some feel that GT have got a below-par total and that their skipper should have tried to up the ante in the last few overs.
Here are some of the reactions:
Hardik Pandya's patient fifty steers GT to 162/7
Kane Williamson won the toss for the fourth time this season and had no hesitation in putting GT into bat as dew could make chasing easier. GT have banked a lot on star opener Shubman Gill to provide them with those flying starts.
However, the 22-year-old had to endure a rare failure, thanks to a one-handed stunner from Rahul Tripathi. Matthew Wade's struggles continued as the southpaw was undone by a rocket from speedster Umran Malik. The SRH pacer found his rhythm straightaway and hit the GT skipper on the grill on his very first ball.
The GT captain responded in fine fashion and smashed two boundaries off the next two deliveries. While many felt that Pandya would unleash himself, that wasn't to be as he went into a shell and concentrated more on rotating the strike and batting deep.
A handy cameo from Abhinav Manohar in the end helped GT post a fighting total on the board. Williamson will be happy with the efforts his bowlers put in to restrict GT. However, Pandya would still believe that his IPL team can defend the total with the gun bowling attack that they have.
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