Speaking to the broadcaster after the match, the skipper of Gujarat Hardik Pandya admitted to making errors in judgment against DC but he assured that his job was not done today after the dismissal of Shubman Gill.
Pandya hit an unbeaten 59 but GT could only make it 125/6 chasing 131 against DC to suffer only their third loss in 10 matches by five runs.
But on Friday, Pandya hit three sixes and as many fours while collecting 24 carries against Adam Zampa of RR to go 15-ball 39, as GT recorded a comfortable win with 37-balls to spare.
“I made a few misjudgments in the last game but today my job was half done by the time Shubman (Gill) came off. I’m not shy about accepting mistakes, accepting is the key to success for me,” Pandya said. the broadcaster after the match.
Rashid Khan (3/14) and Noor Ahmad (2/25) gave victory to the Gujarat Titans, for whom Shubman Gill (36) and Wriddhiman Saha (41 not eliminated) provided an opening position of 71 points.
“I left Rashid to take care of business with Noor; nobody is better placed to communicate. I don’t have much to do, I only suggest when to have a misstep. They are very confident about this they want to do, we just have conversations when things aren’t going well.
“I think Wriddhi is one of the best keepers, hard to pick Rashid and Noor with their speed,” added Pandya.
Rashid, who joined his GT teammate Mohammad Shami at the top with 18 wickets so far in this IPL, said he was working hard in the net to keep batters guessing.
“I just make sure that I don’t give any signals to the hitters to choose me. I try to minimize the difference between leg rotation and googly, holding them the same way. I keep working on it in the nets, I want to make it perfect,” Rashid said.
“Sometimes I lose my lines with my bowling. If I can keep consistency with line and length, I know the batters will have problems. I try to figure out what I’m doing wrong in games.
“It has more to do with my line and my length, I threw a few bad balls and got punished. So I look back and talk to video analysts, and work on my pitch cards,” said Rashid added.
Rashid said it was nice to have Ahmad by his side, adding that the number of leg spinning in Afghanistan is only increasing.
“It makes it easier, we speak Pashto in the middle. Noor is happy that I’m with him and he’s always someone who listens and works hard. To be honest, (there are) over 1,000 (legs that spin ) now.
“There were 250 after my first year of IPL. Now I’ve been playing IPL for 6-7 years now, and there are so many in Afghanistan trying to copy me,” he said .
Saha said GT had several bowlers contributing to its success.
“We continued with the benchmark we set last year. Not just one, but all bowlers contribute, which is why the Purple Cap has changed,” he said.
Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson has said his side need to “pull their socks up” in the upcoming matches.
“We had a very tough night, we didn’t really have a good power play to start with and we struggled against the spinners. Their bowlers were playing good line and length and kept taking crucial wickets during the middle overs and when that happens, there’s not much you can do.
“We have to check our to-do list and see if we are actually playing good cricket. We have to pull our socks up, some crucial games are coming up and we can’t wait to win,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
