IPL 2022: Hardik Pandya keeps rocking

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Bengaluru, April 15: Hardik Pandya led from the front with an all-round performance as the Indian Premier League's (IPL) newest outfit, Gujarat Titans, went to the top of the Indina Premier League (IPL) 2022 points table with a crushing 37-run win over Rajasthan Royals at the DY Patil Sports Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Thursday (April 14) evening.

Pandya's unbeaten 52-ball 87 helped Titans to amass a healthy 192 for four before the Gujarat bowling attack blitzed their rivals midway through the Royals innings, that included a spell of 1 for 18 by the flamboyant skipper.

The Baroda all-rounder's belligerent knock with the bat drove the Titans to a strong position after a difficult start, falling just five runs short of recording his best IPL showing with a haul of 87.

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Things looked bleak for the Titans when they saw their top order dominated early on, but Hardik's magnificent innings helped them put up a total beyond the reach of the Royals.

Lockie Ferguson and Yash Dayal then finished with three wickets apiece as the Royals could only muster 155 for nine in reply, sending the Titans two points clear at the top of the IPL table.

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The Titans elected to bat after winning the toss but made a dreadful start when both Matthew Wade (12) and Vijay Shankar (2) went early on, the former being run out by Rassie van der Dussen and the latter caught by Sanju Samson.

They steadied themselves to reach 53 before Shubman Gill was dismissed for 11 in the sixth over, before captain Hardik, supported well by Abhinav Manohar (43) and David Miller (31 not out) dragged them back into contention with an outstanding batting display.

Hardik was undoubtedly the star of the show, his 87 off 52 balls almost single-handedly setting a difficult target of 192 as the Royals attack struggled in the absence of fast bowler Trent Boult.

Jos Buttler (52) drove Rajasthan to a decent start with the bat, hitting eight fours and three sixes either side of partner Devdutt Padikkal being dismissed for nought with the very first ball he faced.

Replacement Ravichandran Ashwin went for eight shortly after and the wickets began to tumble in quick fashion once Buttler was finally bowled out by Ferguson, with Samson (11), Van der Dussen (6), and Shimron Hetmyer (29) all walking for the addition of 60 runs.

The below-par Royals eventually lost nine wickets without threatening the target of 193, as Ferguson and Dayal helped themselves to three dismissals each.

Three wickets from Dayal on his Titans debut, as well as three from Ferguson, made the win more comfortable than it could have been, with the Royals' final three wickets falling for just 17 runs.

"Always good to win. Today I got the rhythm and planned my knock. It allows the others to play freely. I have done the other role where I have scored 12-ball-30.

Captaincy is always fun. Be the flagbearer of the team. The team is gelling well. I wanted all of us to be happy for each other's happiness. That is working well for the team," Pandya said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

(With Agency inputs)