Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya blamed two run-outs at a crucial juncture in their innings for five-run defeat to Mumbai Indians in Match 51 of IPL 2022 at the Brabourne Stadium here on Friday.
Gujarat Titans were in cruise mode after openers Shubman Gill (52) and Wriddhiman Saha (55) had raised 106 for the opening wicket. But the table-toppers lost their way, falling to some good work in the field by Mumbai Indians as they were restricted to 172/5 in 20 overs, in response to Mumbai Indians’ score of 177/6.
It was a match that Gujarat should have won easily considering the start they got but in the end, they could not make nine runs off the last six balls. Pandya himself was run out at a crucial juncture while Rahul Tewatia was caught short in the last over, the two dismissals thwarting Gujarat Titans.
Chastising his batters for letting the team down, Pandya said on any given day, they would have scored nine runs off the last over to win the match.
“On any day, we’d take 9 off the last over. The two run-outs cost us the game. I think batters let us down. In T20s, you can’t lose back-to-back games,” the Gujarat skipper said at the post-match presentation on Friday.
He said his players made rookie mistakes and lost the match.
“No blame games as we have cleared such games. We have made rookie mistakes which cost us this one. We played good cricket for 19.2 overs in our innings, one or two hits would have made a difference. We should not have let it come down to the last over,” said Pandya.
He praised his bowlers for their good work in restricting Mumbai Indians to 177/6 in 20 overs, considering the start they got.
“I think bowlers did a fantastic job by putting pressure and pull it back to 170, as they were on the way to 200,” he added.
But in the end, the bowlers’ efforts and those by Saha and Gill went in vain as the middle and lower-order could not pull the team past the line.
