Hardik Pandya is growing and maturing as captain: Aakash Chopra

Gujarat Titans picked up an emphatic 55-run win in IPL 2023 over the Mumbai Indians while playing at the Narendra Modi International Stadium, Ahmedabad on April 25. The Titans batted first and piled up a total of 207 runs, courtesy a brilliant half-century by Shubman Gill (56 off 34) and important contributions by David Miller (46 off 22) and Abhinav Manohar (42 off 21) Mumbai could not match that firepower with their highest scorer being Nehal Wadhera with 40 runs off 21.

The Afghan spin twins – Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad – picked up five wickets between them. With this win, Gujarat has grabbed the second spot in the team standings, trailing to Chennai in only net run rate, with both teams having 10 points. Hardik Pandya won the IPL as a first-time captain with the Titans last season and looks to repeat that triumph. The progress in his impact as a captain has been noticeably positive for JioCinema IPL expert Aakash Chopra.

“It’s hard to win a match from a defensive position, we’ve seen this in the  IPL. The point about captaincy was very salient. The game started with fast bowlers bowling quite often with discipline due to the movement of the ball. Soon after, spinners were introduced at the right time. They made an error last game in judging the dew and brought Noor at the end and Hetmyer punished him. He learned from that and ensured Noor’s overs were done earlier. Rashid and Noor, two spinners with five wickets, and Hardik’s captaincy just seems to keep improving,” said Chopra.

“Mohit wasn’t playing well but he still sent him to bowl the final over and take crucial wickets even though he could’ve done that himself as a captain. He changed Mohit’s day from bad to good to maintain his confidence. I think Hardik Pandya as a captain is growing and maturing,” he added.

The Gujarat Titans spin bowling attack of Rashid and Noor wreaked havoc on the Mumbai Indians’ batters, with the pair picking up five wickets on the evening. JioCinema IPL expert Brett Lee commended the pair for their bowling partnership,

“He never ever disappoints, that’s why he’s the Purple floppy holder currently. 2/27 off his four and well backed up by Noor Ahmed. Beautiful bowling, bowling in tandem. Like fast bowlers, even spinners need to hunt in packs,” Lee said.

Mumbai gave up way too many runs up during the first innings as the Titans especially punished their bowling over the final few overs.

JioCinema IPL expert Parthiv Patel sees massive holes MI need to address in their bowling attack.“You’re being generous when you say there’s only little wrong with the Mumbai Indians bowling. If you talk about it being just one time, you can say the pitch was bad or there was a dew factor and the ball wasn’t gripping. This was a dry ground and if you do something like this twice, it shows a pattern is forming,” said Parthiv.

“When we were talking in commentary about how Mumbai could’ve closed the game if they took one wicket. They let go a game that was coming into their hands. If you concede almost 80 runs in five overs, the total is bound to be high. In T20, the momentum of a team is also crucial. Mumbai needs to figure out who can bowl in the death overs and which bowlers to use at what time.”