IPL 2022: Hardik Pandya in action for Gujarat Titans.© BCCI/IPL
Hardik Pandya is in good batting form in the current Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season and is in the running for the prestigious Orange Cap. The all-rounder hit an unbeaten run of 87 runs off 52 balls (including eight fours and four sixes) to help Gujarat Titans (GT) defeat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 37 runs at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai, on Thursday. The former Mumbai Indians (MI) player has received much praise for his performance on social media, in particular from senior Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwary. The former KKR man backed Pandya for the Team India captaincy and revealed that he was impressed with his leadership skills.
“If there is ever a debate over who will replace the Captaining team India in a shorter format or compete in competition, it has to be @hardikpandya7. Yes, what I have seen of him in this #IPL in terms of his leadership skills “I’m damn impressed with #RRvGT,” Tiwary wrote.
If there is ever a debate over who will replace the Captaining team India in shorter form or compete in competition, it must be @hardikpandya7 Yes, no matter how much I’ve seen him in this #IPL as far as his leadership skills go, i’m damn impressed #RRvGT
— MANOJ TIWARY (@tiwarymanoj) Apr 14, 2022
Pandya’s unbeaten knockout saw GT score 192 for four in 20 overs, with a goal of 193 runs.
Three wicket hauls by Lockie Ferguson and Yash Dayal helped GT limit the RR to 155 for nine in 20 overs. Hardik also bowled 2.3 overs and took a wicket, giving up 18 runs.
GT currently tops the IPL 2022 points table, with eight points from five games (four wins and one defeat).
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