The decision to not follow the trend and bat first did not pay off for Gujarat Titans (GT) but was something that the team needed to do in order to get out of their comfort zone in the Indian Premier League (IPL), said skipper Hardik Pandya. The Titans, who lead the points table with eight wins from 10 games and are on course to reach the playoffs, lost to Punjab Kings (PBKS) by eight wickets at the MCA Stadium in Pune on Tuesday, May 3.
Titans struggled to reach 143 and lost eight wickets on the way. In response, Punjab chased down the meagre total in 16 overs.
"We weren't even close to a par score. 170 would have been ideal, but we kept losing wickets regularly and never came anywhere near it. I backed ourselves with the bat, batting first wasn't a wrong call, we needed to come out of our comfort zone," Hardik said after the match.
"We have chased well in this tournament, if required (later in the tournament), we had to know how to set targets. This is part of a learning curve, but this is all about learning to come out of our own comfort zone. We were always talking about getting better even when we were winning, we would talk about things that didn't go our way today and would look to come back better in the coming games," he added.
Meanwhile, Punjab skipper Mayank Agarwal heaped praise on his team after the much-needed win. Explaining the move to drop himself down the batting order, Mayank said, "We are trying to get the best out of Jonny. He's done well opening. I said, 'It's okay, I'll bat at four, I'll anchor the innings at four'. With Livi (Liam Livingstone) it was clear, Shikhar to bat through and Livi could go out and play the way he wants to play. It was nice the way he played, got the score quickly," said Agarwal.
He also said his side need to maintain consistency as the race for a playoff spot heats up, "We would like to string a few (wins), no better time than getting a few wins back-to-back."
