‘They felt he may not be able to read Rashid and Noor Ahmad properly’ - Virender Sehwag baffled with Hardik Pandya’s last-over decision following loss against RR

Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag was left baffled by the Gujarat Titans (GT) skipper Hardik Pandya’s final over decision which cost his team the match against Rajasthan Royals (RR). The defending champions endured their second defeat of the IPL 2023 season at the hands of Sanju Samson’s Royals on Sunday, April 16.

For the uninitiated, the Titans posted a competitive total of 177 runs in the first innings and were well on course to register a convincing win in their match against the Royals. Pacer Mohit Sharma performed exceedingly well throughout the chase in his two overs as he only gave away mere seven runs.

Mohit, who has flourished as a lethal bowler at the tail-end of the game, was intriguingly not handed the responsibility to defend the crucial runs in the final over. With the match going down to the wire, skipper Hardik adopted an unusual strategy and backed Impact Player Noor Ahmad to defend seven runs off the last over.

They would have thought that he would find it difficult to hit the spinners as compared to pacers: Sehwag

However, the decision quickly backfired as explosive hitter Shimron Hetmyer hammered a maximum to snatch the win in the thrilling affair. However, former Indian opener, Virender Sehwag was left unimpressed with Hardik’s tactics and was baffled by the decision of not backing the seasoned pacer for the last over. 

"They probably didn't give Mohit Sharma the ball as they would have thought that he would find it difficult to hit the spinners as compared to pacers. They felt he may not be able to read Rashid and Noor Ahmed properly and would get dismissed. But how do you still not give a third over to someone who has conceded just seven runs in his first two overs?,” Sehwag said while speaking to Cricbuzz.

Notably, the defending champions have lost two matches out of their five games of the season thus far. Hardik Pandya and Co. will be gunning to get back to winning ways when they play Lucknow Super Giants on Saturday, April 22, at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.