IPL 2023: News - Hardik Pandya shares his captaincy motto after Gujarat Titans beat Mumbai Indians

Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya was happy after his side registered a convincing 55-run win over Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2023 match at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium as well. However, GT rode on the bowling heroics of Noor Ahmad and Rashid Khan and the batting show of Shubman Gill, David Miller and Abhinav Manohar to beat five-time IPL title winner Mumbai Indians on Tuesday as well.

When he was asked about his captaincy, Hardik Pandya stated that it has his and head coach Ashish Nehra’s motto to take calls on the spot and also his captaincy works on instincts as well. Hardik further shared that he and the coach have a similar mindset and they often back their calls also. Meanwhile, the Gujarat Titans skipper also mentioned that they used the spinners’ full quota in the middle overs as they had the ability to take wickets at that time and didn’t want to take the game towards the final over as well in the IPL 2023.

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“That has been my motto, always taking calls on situations. T20 is very funny, a couple of sixes can change your mind. Captaincy is something I back my instincts on. I and Ashu Pa have a similar mindset, we back our calls and we have similar calls. Today, the idea of bowling Rashid and Noor was simple,” Hardik Pandya said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

“They like pace with Green and Tim David who are big hitters, and that’s why we wanted to offer them spin and offer them spinners that are difficult to read. Wanted to close the game early because a couple of games haven’t gone in our favour recently,” he again shared.

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However, Gujarat Titans (GT) middle-order batsman Abhinav Manohar scored 42 off 21 balls and helped his team to post a massive total of 207-6 in 20 overs on Tuesday, April 25. Manohar, who came in at No. 6, showed his skills as he entertained the home crowd with three boundaries and as many sixes. The Karnataka-born batsman was bought by the Gujarat Titans for 2.6 crores before the 2022 season and impressed everyone with limited opportunities last year, scoring at a strike rate of 144 in seven innings.

“(On Abhinav Manohar) I think it is all hard work, he bats 2 hours in the nets every day it feels like. He’s been our best death overs hitter. We spoke to him last year and there were a few things he had to improve on, and this year he’s come out blazing,” Hardik Pandya concluded.