'Captain led from the front' - Twitter lauds Hardik Pandya for fighting knock against LSG

Hardik Pandya scored his first fifty of IPL 2023.

Published - 22 Apr 2023, 18:13 IST | Updated - 22 Apr 2023, 18:07 IST

9 Min Read

The fans got another action-packed evening in the Indian Premier League 2023 as Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans went head-to-head in Match 30 on Saturday, April 2023 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.

Gujarat skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bat first. The decision, however, was not vindicated by opener Shubman Gill as he got out for a duck in the second over, off Krunal Pandya. Seeing his team in trouble, Hardik Pandya walked to the crease determined to take his team out of trouble.

The 29-year-old played second fiddle to Wriddhiman Saha early on in his innings, who was smacking boundaries effortlessly all around the park during the powerplay. After the end of the powerplay, Hardik was batting on 6 off 10 balls. He scored his first boundary against Ravi Bishnoi in the ninth over of the innings, smacking him over extra cover. He further clobbered him for a maximum on the last ball of the same over to get his innings going.

After losing Saha in the 11^th over, he dealt in singles and doubles till the 17^th over and gradually took the innings forward. With just three overs left in the innings, Hardik once again targeted Bishnoi and smacked him for a four and consecutive sixes to bring up his fifty off 44 balls. He also smashed Marcus Stoinis for a gigantic maximum over deep mid-wicket in the final over of the innings.

The GT captain’s innings was ended on the very next ball as he holed out to long-on, scoring 66 off 50 balls with the help of two fours and four sixes in his innings. He forged two important partnerships with Saha (68 off 55) and David Miller (40 off 26 balls) to help his side reach 135/6 in their allotted 20 overs. Krunal Pandya and Marcus Stoinis picked up two wickets each for LSG.

Here's how Twitter reacted:

CricketMAN2

@ImTanujSingh

Well played, Hardik Pandya. At one point he was 41(42) and he scored 66 runs from 50 balls including 2 fours and 4 Sixes against LSG in tough pitch. Superb knock from the Captain Hardik Pandya!