'We have to play two days later, we have to play one more game to make sure we reach the final'
Hardik Pandya extended his congratulations to MS Dhoni after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) secured a place in the IPL 2023 final, expressing his excitement at the prospect of facing him in the summit clash on Sunday.
Winning the toss, Gujarat Titans opted to field first as CSK set a target of 172 runs on the scoreboard. Ruturaj Gaikwad's half-century and a blazing cameo from Ravindra Jadeja towards the end bolstered CSK's innings.
Jadeja's superb performance with the ball, taking two wickets for just 18 runs, further solidified CSK's commanding position. Eventually, CSK emerged victorious by a margin of 15 runs, securing their spot in the IPL final for the remarkable tenth time.
Reflecting on the loss, Hardik acknowledged that Gujarat Titans (GT) were effective with their bowling, but simple mistakes ended up being costly. The GT captain believed that they had given away an additional 15 runs, which played a significant role in the outcome of the game.
Hardik expressed that there was no need to dwell too much on the defeat at the present moment. Instead, he emphasized the importance of regrouping and focusing on the upcoming Qualifier two, where GT would have another opportunity to showcase their capabilities and make a strong comeback.
"I think we were quite spot-on (with the ball), but we made basic errors and that costed us the game. The kind of bowlers we had, I felt we conceded 15 extra runs. A lot of things we did right. We bowled a couple of soft balls in between. We were executing our plans and then in between we gave some runs. I don't think we need to look much into it. We have to play two days later, we have to play one more game to make sure we reach the final. Just focus on the things that we've done really well this season," said Hardik.
Hardik went on to say that Dhoni does make you feel like he is adding 10 runs to the total with the use of his bowlers.
"That's the beauty about him (Dhoni), with his mind and the way he uses the bowlers, he'll make sure that you'll feel like he's adding 10 runs. We kept losing wickets, he kept changing the bowlers, credit to him. Happy for him, would be nice to meet him on Sunday. Regrets are not good in life. We expected dew would come, it didn't come. We didn't do right in both the departments. We'll give a crack again after two days," said Hardik.
