‘We may run out of luck in the knockout games’: Hardik Pandya after winning against Hyderabad

Gujarat and Hyderabad faced off in the 40^th match of the Indian T20 League 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The match turned out to be a last-ball thriller as batters from both the teams made the best of great batting conditions.

Gujarat won the toss in the match and invited Hyderabad to bat first. Hyderabad put forward a formidable effort with the bat and posted a big total of 195 runs on the board from their 20 overs. Gujarat started their chase on a high as their opening pair put on 69 runs on the board. But the team started to lag in the chase as the middle order failed to show resilience. A brilliant spell from Umran Malik, where he picked up five wickets from his four overs conceding just 25 runs, left Gujarat requiring 56 runs off the last four overs.

When the hopes were dimming for Gujarat, Rahul Tewatia (40 off 21) and Rashid Khan (30 off 11) put up their hand for the team. The duo pulled off a miraculous heist and took their team to victory by five wickets. This has been the general pattern of the team in the tournament. Whenever the team has been in trouble someone has put up their hand to rescue them and take them to victory.

While speaking on the same during the post-match conversation with Star Sports, the skipper of the team Hardik Pandya said that he fears his team will run out of luck during the important stage of the tournament. He also heaped praises on the support staff for their undying efforts behind the players in the nets. He also spoke about his bowling and said that he will take up the job only when it is needed.

“I keep joking in the dressing room that God is telling ‘You guys are good, I’ll help you.’ It’s happening so often that I fear we may run out of luck in the knockout games,”- said Hardik Pandya.

“We keep a very chilled atmosphere and everyone is stepping up. We’re ensuring that the players are backed well. It’s just a conscious decision to manage my bowling, plan is to bowl whenever the team needs me. It’s a long tournament and I don’t want to get too excited early. We’re quite practical, we’ve spoken about winning these situations and there is a lot of self-belief in the camp,”- he further added.