Leading an Indian Premier League (IPL) team for the first time, Gujarat Titans (GT) skipper Hardik Pandya has been at his possible best in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season. With five wins from six games, he has led the new entrants with both the ball and bat as his side are second on the table with 10 points to GT's name. And on Saturday, during the match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Pandya broke a 34-game unique streak that started from Match 1 of the IPL 2022.
He became the first captain this season to opt to bat after winning the toss against KKR at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday. Prior to the match, captains of all the franchises who had won the toss opted to field first.
This trend stemmed from the statistics that favoured the side bowling first heavily in the previous IPL seasons. Of the 364 matches played in the IPL over the last six years, the team batting second won 214 matches as compared to 150 games won by the teams batting first.
Talking about this trend, former Indian Cricketer Saba Karim said: "The trend is quite startling. It is similar to the national T20 trends. The emergence of strong power hitters has propelled the teams to rework their strategy. They feel if you have batters till No.5 or No.6, it is better to chase. In shorter formats, the teams batting second have more chance to pull off a win."
With the growing buzz regarding the toss, the outcome of the GT vs KKR match can add to the debate of the choice of captains after winning the toss.
Pandya also notched a personal record, ending his bad run with the bat when playing on no. 3. The 28-year-old all-rounder scored an important 49-ball 67 as GT set a target of 157 for KKR to chase down. Previously, has scored 5, 9, 9, 2 and 10 before his half-century against KKR.
