SRH vs GT: Should Not Say Hardik Pandya Is Not A Good Captain Since He Lost His Cool: Graeme Swann

Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat Titans tasted their first defeat of the maiden IPL campaign after winning three back-to-back games in the season. The Titans lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday, April 11at the DY Patil stadium in Mumbai. SRH won by 8 wickets as they tracked down 163 require for victory with eight wickets to spare. Hardik Pandya had a good game personally as he scored his first fifty as captain and also took a wicket giving away 27 runs off his spell. However, there was a moment in the game when he was seen to lose his cool.

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During his spell, he bowled a well-directed bouncer to Rahul Tripathi who played it with an angled bat towards the third man. Mohammed Shami’s fielding at that position did not go for the catch but instead tried to save the boundary. Shami not going for the catch upset Hardik Pandya who was seen to vent out his anger on the Indian pacer.

GT Did Not Lose Due To Hardik Pandya’s Captaincy But Lack Of Runs: Graeme Swann

However, former England cricketer Graeme Sann, who is a part of the commentary team said that the Gujarat Titans lost the game due to their lack of runs and not due to Pandya’s captaincy and thus criticism on him is unfair.

“I will tell you what we shouldn’t do though. We shouldn’t look at it and say all of a sudden Hardik is not a good captain. The fact that they did not score enough runs lost them the game, not Hardik Pandya’s captaincy. He shuffled his packs quite well but of course, your nerves get a bit fried as a skipper or a bowler (in tense situations). It was not Hardik’s captaincy but the lack of runs that cost them,” Swann told Star Sports.

Matthew Hayden also had his say on Shami not opting to go for the catch. He said that fielders need to come up with better efforts to support their skippers and bowlers.

“He really needed to go harder inside the boundary. When you are not defending much, it’s about really working hard for your mates, and taking the effort catches and make the plays. Be it run-out or catches or just assists, in general, to stop a batter from scoring boundaries” said Hayden.

Also Read: IPL 2022: “Don’t See A Quality Spinner”- Michael Vaughan on Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Issues This Season