Proud of the boys, says skipper Hardik Pandya after Gujarat qualify for playoffs

TIL Desk Sports/ Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya praised his players for making it to the IPL 2022 playoffs in their debut year and said he was really proud of his boys.

Gujarat Titans came up with a brilliant bowling performance after Shubman Gill had struck a fighting unbeaten 63 to help them post a below-par 144/4 in 20 overs. Leg-spinner Rashid Khan then claimed 4/24 to lead a clinical effort by the bowling unit that dismissed Lucknow Super Giants for 82 in 13.5 overs to help Gujarat Titans win by 62 runs and become the first team to qualify for the playoffs.

“Really proud of the boys. When we started this journey together, we obviously believed in ourselves, but before the 14th game to have qualified, it’s a great effort and really proud of us,” he said at the post-match presentation on Tuesday. Pandya said his boys learned a lot from their narrow 5-run loss to bottom team Mumbai Indians.

“Last game, I spoke to the boys before going, I think, that, that game was already over before it was over. That was a learning which we took. I think in all the games that we’ve won, we were always under pressure. The last game was the only game that we were ahead of the game and we knew the kind of batters we have and we’ll finish it off. But it did not happen. That was the talk of the group.