The Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya has revealed that he was actually preparing for a super over before the last ball of the previous game against Sunrisers Hyderabad because he thought that the two unbeaten batsmen at the crease, Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia, would perhaps go for two runs rather than a big shot and there was a big possibility of the game being tied.
According to Hardik Pandya, when Rahul Tewatia sent his thigh pad back to the dugout before the last ball, that’s when he thought that the two batsmen were probably thinking about running hard on the last ball and take the game to a tie with two runs. Hardik, however, also said that the Gujarat head coach Ashish Nehra told him that they would try and finish the game here only and wouldn’t take it to a tie.
Hardik Pandya interviewed Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia after the game against SRH
Hardik was in a conversation with Rashid and Tewatia on IPL’s official website once the game concluded, and Tewatia opened up on the situation before the last ball as well. Tewatia said that he thought the bowler might try a yorker again and Rashid might just dig it out towards square leg and in that kind of scenario, he wanted to run hard and complete at least two runs so that the scores would be leveled.
However, the SRH bowler Marco Jansen, who was bowling the last over, went for a short ball with three required off the last ball. Rather than placing it for a two, Rashid Khan went full monty and even though he got a top edge, it was good enough to take the ball over the fine leg boundary for a six.
It was Gujarat Titans’ 7th win in IPL 2022 in just 8 games, and they are now only one or two wins away from making it to the playoffs in their first IPL season itself.
