IPL 2023: Hardik Pandya insists GT need to play 'good cricket' after five-run defeat to DC in Ahmedabad

Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya on Tuesday admitted that his team needs to play better cricket following their five-run defeat to Delhi Capitals in a low-scoring IPL 2023 game in Ahmedabad.

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Mohammed Shami took four wickets to restrict DC to 130/8, but even Hardik Pandya’s unbeaten 59 could not save GT in the end, as regular wickets hurt their progress. GT were eventually restricted to 125/6 from 20 overs.

“We would have taken 129 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,” said Hardik after the match.

“I feel sorry for him (Shami), if you bowl like that, and restrict a team to 129 and still not win, the batters disappointed. I don’t think the wicket did a lot but full credit to him. 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,” added the GT skipper.

DC skipper David Warner credited his bowlers for his team’s victory.

“Khaleel 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 was so clear with what he wanted to execute for us,” said Warner.

Mohammed Shami ended up on the losing side but was adjudged Player of the Match for his four-wicket spell. “I just try to stick to my plans. Stick to the areas, the line and length that we discussed. This wasn’t a score that was above par, there was not too much swing. I felt we should have chased this. The mistake was losing wickets at regular intervals, we needed partnerships and they came too late for us,” said Shami.

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