Hardik Pandya impressed one and all on his captaincy debut in the Indian Premier League (IPL) last year, leading Gujarat Titans (GT) to the title victory. He led the side from the front, scoring 487 runs and claiming 8 wickets in the tournament.
GT’s triumph also brought Hardik’s healthy rapport with head coach Ashish Nehra to the fore. While Pandya and Nehra were on the same page most of the time, there was one moment in the final against Rajasthan Royals when the former disagreed with the latter.
“The only time I went against his wish was in the final. Rashid Khan generally never bowls his third over around the 12-over mark. I always gave him 14th and 16th over, I always believed Rashid is at his best when people target him. When people play him around, he may take wickets but Rashid is my ace. I have to use the ace most effectively,” Hardik Pandya said in a GT podcast.
“In that game, Devdutt Padikkal was around 2 runs off 9 balls. He’d played out an entire over of mine quietly. Rashid had already bowled 3 overs. Generally, we never finish his quota around the 12th over. I saw the scoreboard and realised they were 80/2. Sanju and Yashasvi were out, I think," he stated.
“But I knew they had one batter short, that was very important for me to know. That was the style of their play last year, and it was a potential weakness. We couldn’t exploit that weakness in the qualifier, Buttler hit us. But we had made other inroads that time," the GT captain explained.
“Since it was the final, I thought we could be more aggressive in exploiting that weakness. Ashu Pa gestured to me to bowl Sai Kishore. I called Sai, but then I stopped," he recounted.
“I look at the score, ’11 overs are down, and I’ve bowled 2, and given away 6. Buttler has scored 35 runs and he’s batting at a run-a-ball, Devdutt is 2 off 9. This is the over they will have to target. If a left-handed Padikkal targets Sai and hits two sixes, he may get back to rhythm. What seems like a 150-odd score may become 170′. In the final, those 20 extra runs would make a big difference. I knew Buttler also wants to open up, so this over was important,” he further remarked.
“I asked Sai to wait and gave the ball to Rashid. He bowled a quiet over and got Devdutt’s wicket," Pandya recollected.
“Buttler was planning to explode, but after losing Devdutt, and playing one batter short, Buttler instead of playing his natural game continued to be in his shell. Because of that, he became tentative and eventually got out."
“For me, that was the only time I went against his wishes. He said Sai Kishore and I said, no. Rashid will bowl," Hardik concluded.
Hardik Pandya is also making a mark as captain of Gujarat Titans in the ongoing IPL 2023 season. So far, he has led GT to 6 wins from 9 matches and the defending champions are heading the points table.
