The Gujarat Titans (GT) were stunning and managed to beat their rivals, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 24th game of the Indian Premier League 2022 at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Thursday. The team led by Hardik Pandya successfully recorded a victory by 37 runs over the Royals. Pandya's contribution to Gujarat's victory was quite significant in this match. He managed to record a brilliant score of 87 runs.
The 28-year-old cricketer's half-century was certainly supported by the passionate performances of the GT bowler line. Even though the Titans started as a debut team this season, they have become a force to be reckoned with. This victory was the debutant team's fourth win in their five IPL matches this season.
This victory has taken the Gujarat-based franchise team to the top of the IPL 2022 standings. As for Rajasthan, this is their second loss in the league this season. This defeat made RR's position in the standings drop to the third position.
Samson praises Pandya
Following Gujarat's victory, Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson praised his counterpart, Hardik Pandya, for his great performance during the match. According to Samson, the Titans have played a very extraordinary round to get that score.
“I would like to give credit to their batters. Hardik played very good innings, they played really well to get that score. If we had wickets in hand this was chasable I feel. We were almost there in terms of run rate, in the powerplay we had a better run rate actually, But we kept losing wickets. Freaky niggle last night in training, definitely missed him (Boult). Hopefully, he will be back soon. He (Hardik) had a really good day today, batted, bowled and fielded well.” said Samson.
The 27-year-old cricketer says he has played for quite a long time in the IPL and fully understands that every game is a decisive moment. It is very important for the team to keep learning and adapting in order to be better in the next match.
“I was doing No. 3 continuously till last season. So we decided to have that flexibility, come down at No. 4 or 5 or wherever the team needs me. Having someone like R Ashwin allows us to do that, Devdutt Padikkal batted 3 in the first three games. So it all depends on the combination we are playing," the RR skipper added.
RR vs GT
Samson lost an early wicket in the match against the Titans. This match was dominated by GT for most of the round as Pandya and his teammates completely outperformed the Royals. This dominance made Gujarat sit at the top of the IPL 2022 points table.
Pandya said that his team this time had played extraordinarily. According to him, during the match against RR, he got a rhythm and had planned his steps carefully so that this allowed him to play to the maximum and be free to bring out his full potential.
“I have done the other role where I have scored 12 balls 30. Captaincy is always fun. Be the flagbearer of the team. I wanted all of us to be happy for each other's happiness. That is working well for the team, ” said Pandya.
