IPL 2023: Hardik Pandya Wants To Land ‘First Punch’ After Going To Top Of Table

Defending champions Gujarat Titans posted their second successive win in IPL 2023, defeating Delhi Capitals by six wickets on Tuesday.

Photo: ANI

Gujarat Titans are the defending champions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and they are showing that their title win last season was not a fluke by any means. Hardik Pandya’s side posted their second successive win in the IPL 2023, defeating home side Delhi Capitals by six wickets on Tuesday to zoom to the top of the Points Table.

The Titans all-rounder Pandya made it clear that he would rather ‘land the first punch’ than take it. “It is my instinct. I like to back myself. I’d rather back me and fall down than taking others’ decision. I’d rather land the first punch than take the first punch. We tell the boys to enjoy. It will help to take us right decisions and someone takes us through periods when needed. Whatever happens it is okay but be out happy out there and take care of each other,” Pandya said after the win over the Capitals on Tuesday.

Pandya sees teammate Sai Sudharsan doing ‘great things’ in franchise cricket in the next two years. Sudharsan made an unbeaten 62 off 48 balls as Titans tamed Delhi Capitals for their second win as many games.

“He (Sai Sudharsan) is been batting terrifically. Credit to the support staff and to him as well. The amount of batting he’s done in the last 15 days, all the result you see is all his hard work. Going forward, if I’m not wrong, in two years, he'll do something great for franchise cricket and eventually for India,” said Hardik at the post match presentation.

Opting to bowl, Pandya made some smart bowling changes to restrict home team Delhi Capitals to 162/8 before winning the contest by six wickets with 11 balls to spare. In pursuit of 163, GT lost key wickets of Shubman Gill and Pandya to be 54/3 inside the Powerplay. But 21-year-old Sai Sudharshan showed fine composure to anchor the chase with an unbeaten effort.

Pandya further said they had a ‘funny’ start and gave away 15-20 runs extra in the Powerplay. “It was little funny at the start. We didn't know what was happening but something was happening. We gave away 15-20 runs more in the powerplay. But our bowlers did well to bounce back,” he added.

Double delight for @gujarat_titans __
They win their second consecutive game of #TATAIPL 2023 and move to the top of the Points Table.

Scorecard - https://t.co/tcVIlEJ3bC#DCvGT pic.twitter.com/WTZbIZTQmm — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 4, 2023

For Delhi Capitals, this was their second loss on the trot, having lost the season opener to Lucknow Super Giants. Warner blamed it on the conditions and said, “It swung more than I anticipated. Losing wickets in the powerplay can be struggle. They showed how to adapt to the situation and it is a learning for us.

“We have got six more games here and anticipate the swing upfront. They bowled extremely well. We were in the game but Sai batted extremely well and David Miller took it away,” he added.

Strangely, Warner did not use Axar Patel while bowling and Warner said it was a match-up strategy. “Just purely because of the wicket and the match-ups. We thought Kuldeep would be effective and had Mitch Marsh,” Warner said.

(with PTI inputs)