44th Match (N), Ahmedabad, May 02, 2023, Indian Premier League (Rashid Khan 3*, Hardik Pandya 59*, Ishant Sharma 2/23) – RESULT, DC vs GT, 44th Match, live score, 2023

Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya: “Obviously we would have taken 129 on any given day. Those last couple of wickets and at the end, Rahul got us back in the game. I tried my best but could not capitalize. It boils down to me. We were hoping to get a couple of big overs in the middle but at that point of time we could not get rhythm. It was new for Abhinav as well. It boils down to how I was not able to finish the game. Full marks to their bowlers as well and full ownership for my side where I could not finish the game. I should’ve. The wicket was good enough. I think it was more about the wicket pressure. I don’t think the wicket played much role. It was a tad slower than what we are used to here. But they bowled really well. We lost a couple of early wickets where we had to take some time. We could not get the rhythm in the middle. Rahul brought us back into the game. Otherwise they were quite ahead. Intent had to be there. It’s just that we lost a couple of wickets where if you keep losing wickets, it’s difficult to keep the intent as well. I think it’s just that this game I think we lost because I could not get my rhythm and we kept losing wickets at the start and that put us under pressure. We like to take it deep and get a couple of big overs which we could not get. [On Shami’s spell] I feel sorry for him. If you bowl like that, then you get the team on 129, I think batters disappointed. I don’t think the ball did a lot. I think it’s just that Mohammed Shami’s skill set which he has and he made the ball talk. Otherwise, I think for fast bowlers, the wicket did not have much assistance. But the way he bowled four on the trot and got us in the game, full credit. As I said, batters and particularly myself did not finish and we disappointed him. It’s still a lot of games left. We’ll take all the learnings from this game and rectify it a little better and move on. We have won a lot of games from the same position. We are still at the top of the table but we need to keep playing good cricket. Today, we did not finish the game.”