
Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans (GT) hosted last year's runners-up Rajasthan Royals (RR) in match 23 of IPL 2023 at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium, Ahmedabad on Sunday (April 16). Asked to bat first, defending champions GT rode on contributions from Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Hardik Pandya, David Miller and Abhinav Manohar to post a competitive 177 for 7.
In reply, Sanju Samson's RR were in a spot of bother and reduced to 55 for 4 before the captain's counterattacking 32-ball 60 and Shimron Hetymer's 26-ball 56*, along with timely hits from Dhruv Jurel and R Ashwin, took their side to a thrilling three-wicket win in the final over. During the end overs, GT's head coach Ashish Nehra was seen constantly talking to David Miller, stationed at the deep. Despite Nehra's valiant efforts, his suggestions didn't work as GT bowlers lost the plot in the end to lose the clash.
After the game, Nehra's former India teammate Virender Sehwag opined on the former's on-field tactics and said on Cricbuzz, "We know Ashish Nehra from childhood and so I feel he was just dealing with his anxiety by talking to the fielders on the boundary. But what that might do is sometimes it might put pressure on the players. He said something to Shami too when he was on the boundary, and then even Shami ended up getting hit for runs in his last over."
Captain Hardik said in the post-match presentation, "To be honest no (didn't expect the loss after the powerplay), but that's the beauty about this game. The game is never over till it's over, another lesson for us. A lot of matches left, we still need to play a lot of group cricket even if we had won today."
GT will now face the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at theBharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Saturday afternoon (April 22).