Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya heaped praise on batter Abhinav Manohar and all-rounder Rahul Tewatia after they helped his team get past the finishing line against fellow debutants, the Lucknow Super Giants, in their season opener in the ongoing IPL 2022 on Monday, March 28, at Wankhede Stadium.
With Gujarat Titans needing 11 off the final over, Manohar smashed back-to-back fours off Avesh Khan to take the side over the line with two balls to spare against Lucknow Super Giants.
Rahul Tewatia played an unbeaten knock of 40 to help Gujarat Titans kickstart their maiden IPL season with a big win. The way Manohar (15 runs off 7 balls) played and showed confidence in the extreme pressure, it did not look like he was playing his first game in the IPL and Pandya said he is going to be a star in the future.
Pandya said after the match, “You would hear a lot more about Abhinav Manohar in the future. Manohar is someone to look at with the talent he has. He is someone who you are going to hear about in the future. Rahul Tewatia was sensational as well.”
Meanwhile, the skipper bowled four overs and scored 33 batting at number four against Lucknow Super Giants, and he declared that he would continue to bat at this position in the tournament.
Pandya further added, “Mostly I'll bat at number four, because I want to take pressure with my experience so that the others can play freely. We want to win as a team and nobody can take the contribution away from anyway.”
The skipper also lauded Mohammad Shami who returned with sensational figures of 3/25 against Lucknow.
Pandya signed off by saying, “This was the right game for us to be on either side and learn, but have learned a lot by winning. Shami is known for his seam positions and he got us to a great start. We would have any day taken 160 on this wicket.”
(With PTI Inputs)
