Gujarat Titans’ captain Hardik Pandya leaves the sphere through the Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings in Ahmedabad, India on March 31, 2023. (
| Photo Credit: AP
Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya stated the Indian Premier League’s new “impact player” rule makes his job tough as a result of there are a number of choices to select from.
For the primary time in IPL’s historical past, groups this season might be allowed to make a tactical substitution with an influence participant coming in to bat or bowl as wanted.
Also Read | Having an influence participant is a luxurious, says Dhoni
Led by Pandya, Gujarat started their title defence with a five-wicket victory over four-times champions Chennai Super Kings within the season-opening match in Ahmedabad on Friday.
Chennai set Gujarat a goal of 179 after Ruturaj Gaikwad scored a sensational 92, however his heroics went in useless as Shubman Gill’s 63, mixed with late cameos by Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia, helped the defending champions seal a win.
Chennai’s Tushar Deshpande grew to become the primary influence participant when he got here in for Ambati Rayudu throughout their defence, whereas Gujarat’s Sai Sudharsan changed New Zealand’s Kane Williamson and batted at no. 3 after he injured his knee whereas fielding.
“To be very honest, having this impact rule makes my job quite difficult because when you have too many options, you have to pick the right option, and I think because of this reason, someone will bowl less,” Pandya stated.
“I had to just pick and kind of back [my instinct], where I felt that going hard lengths was the plan for me, and it kind of worked, so yeah, some of the bowlers came late but they did the job for us.”
Pandya additionally heaped reward on Afghanistan’s Rashid, who was named the Player of the Match for bagging two wickets and hitting a 4 and 6 in his unbeaten 10-run show which performed a vital function in Gujarat’s win.
“When you have Rashid Khan in your team, it gives you a sigh of relief,” Hardik stated. “He can come and bowl and get you wickets and at the end of the day if you need some runs he’ll come and smack it and make our job easy.”
Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni stated the crew ought to have set an even bigger goal.
“Another 15-20 runs would have been good. We all know there would be a little bit of dew,” Dhoni defined. “We could have batted properly in the middle overs as opposed to trying to muscle the ball.”
