Gujarat Titans Director of Cricket Vikram Solanki praises Jason Holder's all-round performance and experience after his Player of the Match display against RCB.
Gujarat Titans (GT) Director of Cricket Vikram Solanki was all praise for the 'Player of the Match' Jason Holder, pointing out that his experience as a T20 cricketer and physical, technical attributes as an all-rounder have helped the side.
Key Points
- Jason Holder starred with an all-round display of 2/29, three catches and 12 runs, earning Player of the Match.
- Vikram Solanki highlighted Holder’s ability to contribute with both bat and ball as a key reason GT pursued him at the auction.
- Solanki praised Holder’s experience across international and franchise cricket, calling him a “measured” player who reads situations well.
- Holder has made impactful contributions for Gujarat Titans with both skills and fielding despite limited opportunities so far.
For Gujarat Titans, West Indies all-rounder Holder returned with figures of 2/29 while also take three catches. He also scored 12 runs with the bat to be adjudged the player of the match.
"When we were pursuing Jason at the auction, it was with the mind to him being able to fulfil both roles -- the bat and the ball. So he does offer us exactly that," GT Director of Cricket Vikram Solanki.
"His numbers, if you take a look over the last sort of calendar year and perhaps a little bit longer than that, his numbers at five and six have been quite outstanding.
"And that has come about because he, of course, has all of the ability that you need. Physically, a strong guy, has great reach, leverage as far as the bat is concerned, so all the technicalities are covered off," he added.
So far for the Titans, Holder has contributed 35 runs in two innings at a strike rate of 175.00 and taken three wickets at an average of 28.66, besides some important contributions as a fielder.
"He has sort of proven across the years in international cricket and franchise cricket in the past how measured he is, and I think he is only getting better. He spoke about understanding his game and that, of course, comes with experience.
"Any player that has played for as long as he has, around the world as he has, led teams as he has, international teams and been part of different teams, starts to get an understanding of what should be done in any given situation, and Jason is certainly doing that," Solanki added.
Solanki pleased with GT's Powerplay show
Solanki said that the team was excited to have him in the squad, even though he had to wait for a while before his turn came, but since then, he has played an important role with both bat and ball with his experience and situation-reading ability.
"We were very excited when he was part of the squad. He has had to wait his time before he got an opportunity, but since he got an opportunity in all of the games he has played, making good contributions, and today in the field. He has been brilliant with the ball, he has fantastic ability with the bat in terms of his ability to strike a cricket ball, but he is also quite smart in playing exactly the way he needs to given any sort of situation, and that partnership with Rahul Tewatia is exactly an example of that," he said.
Solanki was pleased with the way the 2022 champions managed to restrict a powerful RCB batting line-up, who had been playing an aggressive brand of cricket in the tournament. He was particularly happy for star spinner Rashid Khan, who bowled a sensational four-over spell of 2/19, taking his wicket-tally to 10 scalps in nine matches at an average of 27.40, with best figures of 3/17.
"This (dominance against RCB batting) speaks volumes about actually a little bit of character and resilience as far as the group is concerned, especially when they (RCB) came out quite aggressively, as we expected them to. So for the guys to hold that and then the ability to take wickets and try and put the opposition under pressure, they played that out very well, I thought. After which, Rashid had a great game. He was superb, so it is great to see him being the Rashid Khan that we all know and love and showing the sort of energy that he brings to this group," he said.
Vikram also acknowledged that the chase was not a perfect one, and they did not have a complete game of cricket.
"As far as chase is concerned, we leave it upto batters to make good decisions, and I thought they played some pleasing shots by being aggressive in the powerplay. Was it the perfect game that we played? No, we did not play the perfect game, but you rarely do. We will just take a lot of confidence, as we should, from the win," he signed off.
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