"We did not want to take any risk" - GT skipper Hardik Pandya reveals injury scare in thrilling win vs KKR

Gujarat Titans (GT) captain Hardik Pandya has stated that he will assess his fitness over the next three days, after leaving the field midway through Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) run-chase. His absence didn’t harm GT’s cause as they moved to the top of the IPL 2022 table after beating KKR by eight runs on Saturday.

Just as KKR were resuscitating their innings, Hardik walked off the field, handing over the leadership duties to vice-captain Rashid Khan (2 for 22), who was adjudged the Player of the Match.

"I will obviously go back to the drawing board, three days [to] recover and see how I am. It was just a little [niggle], it was hot as well, so we did not want to take any risks. Rash was there to look after the stuff inside," Hardik Pandya said in response to a Sportskeeda query at the post-match presentation.

This came after a groin injury forced him to miss his side’s previous game against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) last Sunday. He didn’t have to roll his arm over tonight and also seemed to run gingerly while chasing a ball to the fence.

Having last played for India at the T20 World Cup last year, Hardik is on a comeback trail. Not only has he taken a liking to captaincy, but the extra responsibilities have enhanced his performances too. In seven matches so far, the 28-year-old has aggregated 295 runs at a stunning average of 73.75 and also scalped 4 wickets at an economy of 7.56.

Asked if he has his eyes set on an international comeback, the all-rounder from Baroda reiterated that he is living in the present and focusing on the things that are in his control.

“I don’t think it’s my comeback, anyway. And second, I don’t focus on my comebacks. I focus on the games which I play. I am playing the IPL, I’ll focus on IPL and see where the future takes. And it’s never in my hands now. As I said, I don’t focus on comebacks. I focus on the team which I am playing in and I think we’re doing pretty and I am very happy,” he remarked.

The Titans became the first franchise to log 12 points this season. On the other hand, things are going from bad to worse for KKR. Shreyas Iyer’s boys suffered a fourth successive defeat and are in seventh position with just three wins under their belt.

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"I felt we were 10 to 15 runs short" - Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya (R) and David Miller (L) set the innings for the final flourish before it all imploded [Credits: IPL]

Earlier, Hardik Pandya became the first captain in this edition to elect to bat after calling it right at the toss. He led by example, scoring a classy 67 off 49 balls with four boundaries and two sixes to boot.

But the Ahmedabad-based side couldn’t capitalize on their good start, as the KKR bowlers came back brilliantly to take seven wickets and concede just 29 runs in the last five overs. Hardik opined that it was a sub-par total but he backed his bowlers to exploit the uneven bounce in the DY Patil pitch.

There was a slight hiccup for GT as Andre Russell was out off a no-ball and almost won it for the Knight Riders with a marauding 48 off 25 balls. Hardik expressed caution over the need to cut down on potentially costly mistakes.

“I felt we were 10 to 15 runs short, they finished very strongly. But the kind of bowling we have, I backed my chances to even save 156. Because I think the wicket kind of played same in both innings. It had that up-and-down bounce where not every ball was climbing but, the back of length was working and our strength was that. Someone like Andre getting out and that too off a no-ball, we need to rectify those kind of small mistakes and make sure that we won’t repeat,” he explained.

GT will next face the in-form SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Wednesday at the Wankhede Stadium. KKR will have an extra day’s rest before taking on the Delhi Capitals (DC) the following evening at the same venue.