NEWS
Follow UsGujarat Titans (GT) failed to chase a target of 131 against Delhi Capitals (DC) on Tuesday (May 2) and skipper Hardik Pandya said that he takes full ownership of the loss as he believed that it was his responsibility to take his side over the line.
GT reduced DC to 27for 5 inside the powerplay, thanks to Mohammad Shami's brilliant spell of 4 for 11, but Axar Patel (27), Aman Khan (51) and Ripal Patel (23) played handy knocks to give their bowlers something to bowl at.
We would have taken 129 [130] on any given day. Just lost a couple of wickets and in the end, Rahul got us back in the game. I tried my best in the end but it was not to be," Hardik said at the post-match presentation.
Pandya and Abhinav Manohar (26) put on a slow-paced 62-run stand for the fifth wicket after GT lost David Miller for a duck and were staring down the barrel at 32 for 4.
Speaking of the discussions with Manohar, Pandya said, "We were hoping to get couple of big overs in the middle but we couldn’t get rhythm. It was new for Abhinav as well and it boils down on how I could not finish the game.
"Full marks to the bowlers and full ownership I couldn’t finish it. Wicket was good enough, it was wicket pressure. They bowled really well, 10 overs for 80 we would have taken. In the end, Rahul got us in the game, otherwise they were quite ahead. We lost this game because I couldn’t get my rhythm."
Pandya said he feels sorry for Shami, who bowled a dream spell initially but blamed the batters for not getting the job done.
"I feel sorry for him, if you bowl like that, and restrict a team to 130 and still not win, the batters disappointed. I don’t think the wicket did a lot but full credit to him," Pandya said.
"It is still lots of games left, we will take all learning from this game and move on. All these things keep happening, that’s the beauty of IPL. We are still on top of the table but we still need to play good cricket."
DC registered their third win of the season, but skipper David Warner cannot put a finger on what's exactly wrong with their batting.
"Our bowlers were amazing. Our batters struggled but credit to the way Shami bowled. Credit to the way Aman [Khan] and Ripal [Patel] played from then on to get up that score. We just find ways to lose wickets in clumps, I always hate it when there's a run out. I don't know what's happening with our batting. We tried playing positively today with the bat, didn't come off," Warner said.
Warner, however admits that he was nervous when Rahul Tewatia smashed Anrich Nortje for three sixes to set up an exciting final over.
"Khaleel [Ahmed] did well after coming back from injury, and Ishant is forever getting younger. I was nervous when Tewatia was going off, he has a reputation for that kind of stuff. Anrich is our most consistent death bowler, but couldn't get it right today. But Ishant [Sharma] was so clear with what he wanted to execute for us," the DC skipper said.
GT, who are currently top of the table with 12 points next take on Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Jaipur on Friday (May 5). Currently at the other end of the table, DC will hope to make it four wins in five when they take on Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Saturday (May 6) in Delhi.
