IPL 2023, PBKS vs GT | Who said what ft. Hardik Pandya, Rahul Tewatia
Hardik Pandya led GT to six-wicket win over PBKS
|(IPL)
Gujarat Titans have been in red hot form in the IPL 2023 and continued their sensational run in the game against Punjab Kings as well inking their third victory of the tournament. Shubhman Gill was the star of the show scoring 67 runs from 49 balls while Mohit Sharma scalped two wickets.
Gujarat Titans were up against Punjab Kings in match no. 18 of the IPL 2023. Despite both teams having powerful batting lineups, the game turned out to be a low-scoring thriller and GT ended up as the winner. Punjab Kings were invited to bat first by the visitors and Matthew Short was the highest run-scorer for the team with 36 runs from 24 balls. PBKS posted a total of 153/8 and Mohit Sharma picked a couple of wickets for GT.Â
Shubman Gill ensured that GT get to a good start with his sublime stroke play. The batter played a knock of 67 runs from 49 balls but their run rate slowed down in the middle phase and the contest went down to the wire. David Miller and Rahul Tewatia provided the finishing touches to the innings with the latter finishing the game with a boundary.Â
Reflecting on the result, Hardik stated that the game shouldn’t have gone so deep as the team had a chance to finish it earlier.Â
To be very honest I would not appreciate for the game to go this deep. There was definitely a lot for us to learn from this game. That's the beauty of sports, it's never over till it's over. We need to go back to the drawing board. They bowled really well. Luckily all our batters are in good nick. We should take risks and play shots in the middle overs, need to make sure the game doesn't go so deep. I would like to finish the game earlier, not a big fan of taking it to the last over.
Shubman Gill took the responsibility for the match turning out to be a close contest and stated that he should have finished the game earlier.Â
Wicket got a bit challenging in the end. Was harder to hit sixes with the old ball. It's a big ground. Was important to keep hitting the gaps, run as hard as possible. I should've finished the match. Rahul Tewatia and Kings XI is a love story. In these type of games, there's definitely pressure on both teams. It's about trying to minimise dot balls. It was difficult for them also to score runs against old ball.
PBKS captain Shikhar Dhawan opined that the batters should have scored more runs for the team and they should improve their performance with the bat.Â
Agree with you on that thing. We did not put many runs on the board. We have to rectify that thing going forward. Absolutely - if you see the number of dot balls, if a team plays 56 balls, you end up losing the game. Losing early wickets puts you on the back foot and we need to work on that. Very proud of the bowlers, it was not a big total and taking the game till the end was tremendous.
Rahul Tewatia finished hitting the scoop and earning four runs from it. After the match, he revealed his plan to finish the fixture and also spoke about his preparation for different match situations.Â
I had two things on my mind. The leg-side is a bigger side and I thought I could take a couple but I felt it was slightly risky and with two deliveries remaining I thought that was a better shot. The ball was also reversing. I backed myself and executed the shot.I give myself targets, I play a lot of match simulations - which gives me the idea when I can take the chance and how I can finish the match. According to me the most important thing is you need to know the right time and the right bowler. It's not like you can finish all 10 out of 10 matches but yes, you will finish the majority of the matches, which GT has been doing from the last season
