“We Were Both Driving At 100kph”: Hardik Pandya’s Interesting Analogy On Gujarat Titans’ Win In IPL 2023 | Cricket News

Gujarat Titans’ opening batter Shubman Gill is keen to learn from “phenomenal” Wriddhiman Saha’s vast experience in the ongoing IPL, with the veteran wicketkeeper enjoying a rich vein of form in this edition. Saha has been in scintillating form for GT as he hit a 43-ball 81 and together with Gill (94 off 51) shared 142 runs in quick time for the opening wicket to hand the defending champions a comfortable 56-run win over Lucknow Super Giants here on Sunday. Both Gill looked set to raise their respective IPL centuries but fell short. The duo’s partnership was six runs short of the best partnership for any wicket in this season for any side. In fact, the 142-run association between Gill and Saha was the best stand for any wicket for GT in their two-year history.

“Just to be able to share his (Saha) experience, I stand next to him at slip, it is phenomenal with the way he keeps going. He’s been playing since the first IPL season,” Gill said after the match.

“I didn’t get much to bat in the first few overs but it is important to not get carried away with what your partner is doing. I had not hit sixes in the last two matches and today I struck a few, I always keep working on my skills,” he added. GT captain Hardik Pandya said the game was in balance for a long time. “The way the game changed after that (Rashid’s catch), at one point I thought the game was even-stevens and that catch was match changing. We were both driving at 100kph as a team but that catch caused a bump in their chase,” he said, referring to Rashid Khan’s stunning catch to dismiss Kyle Mayers.

It was the first occasion in the IPL on Sunday that two brothers were leading their respective teams in the form of Hardik and LSG captain Krunal Pandya.

Krunal, however, conceded that his side allowed GT to run away with the game with far too many runs on the board.

“We gave too many runs in the first innings. When it’s 227, you have to go hard every over. The surface played really well. The batters said it was a good wicket to bat on. Had we restricted them to 200-210, we would have had a chance,” he said.

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