IPL 2023 GT vs RR: Hardik Pandya surprised by the defeat, lashed out at the batsmen and also made these excuses

Ahmedabad:Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya said after the three-wicket defeat against Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League match on Sunday that he did not expect this result after the powerplay. Chasing 178 for the win, Rajasthan lost two wickets for four runs in the first three overs and after the powerplay (initial six overs), the team’s score was just 26 runs. Captain Sanju Samson (60 off 32 balls) and Shimron Hetmyer (56 not out off 26 balls), however, took the team to victory with four balls to spare. Didn’t think about this result afterwards. This is the specialty of this game. The game never ends before it ends. Team players should learn this lesson. Pandya, who had an all-round performance in the match (28 off 19 balls and one wicket for 24 runs in four overs), said his team should have scored a few more runs batting first.

He said, ‘We scored a few runs short. He bowled well after I got out. We should have put in a little more effort and scored closer to 200. We were also defending this target well but I felt that we scored 10 runs less. Man of the match Shimron Hetmyer was happy to register his first win against Gujarat in four matches. He said, ‘I don’t have words to express anything right now. They beat us three times last season, so this win is like revenge. I keep such situations in mind during practice sessions. We were confident that we could achieve a target close to 100 runs in the last eight overs.

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Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson praised his bowlers for restricting Gujarat to 177 runs. Samson said, ‘I think it was very important to change the bowlers frequently. They were our spinners trying to score quick runs. He hit some good shots but I am very proud of my team that they limited Gujarat’s innings to a score close to 170.

Samson said, ‘At the beginning of our batting, he bowled a great swing with the new ball. And we had to respect that. When asked about Hetmyer, he said, “He doesn’t like easy situations, we like to put him in such situations because he usually wins us matches from such situations.”

GT vs RR Highlights: Samson and Hetmyer storm in Ahmedabad, Hardik’s team lost to Rajasthan for the first timeSanju Samson: 6,6,6…