From MI to GT, 3 differences in Hardik Pandya
Gujarat Titans (GT) have been in fine form in IPL 2023 under the able leadership of Hardik Pandya, stream-rolling their opponents with their bowling.
With six wins from nine matches, the defending champions are comfortably placed at the top of the points table.
It's not that GT are perfect and don't have any issues to ponder, but they somehow find their way out of adverse situations to win matches.
One of the problems Gujarat is facing is the form of their skipper Hardik, who, despite coming in to bat in the top order, is yet to make a substantial contribution apart from his gold-dust innings of 66 against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
If we compare this version of Hardik Pandya with the one who played for the Mumbai Indians (MI) until 2021, then there's a stark difference in the performance of the ace all-rounder.
On that note, we will discuss the differences between both versions of Hardik Pandya.
#3 Burden of captaincy
How many times have we seen a player's game get affected by the burden of leading a team?
Hardik also seems to have been affected by the leadership role, prompting him to lead a batting line-up that doesn't consist of any superstar or hard-hitting player till No. 4.
It's not about his captaincy, but his batting that has got a serious hit playing for the Gujarat Titans as compared to the Mumbai Indians.
For MI, Hardik used to bat at a strike rate of 158.98 compared to 124.35 for the GT.
#2 'Finisher' turned into 'anchor'
Hardik Pandya was part of the famous MI trio comprising him, Krunal Pandya, and Kieron Pollard, who together used to torment the opposition bowlers with their ferocious striking in the death overs.
After coming to the Gujarat Titans and being appointed as the skipper of the franchise, he decided to bat up the order. He has donned the role of anchor, not just to guide the inexperienced batting unit, but also to control the innings.
We are witnessing a more mature Hardik, who is taking on more responsibilities while batting. He has started playing percentage cricket more often than not for GT, which is yielding runs for him but at the cost of a very mediocre strike rate.
#1 Regular bowling
While Hardik was with MI, he was used as a middle-over enforcer as a sixth bowler and seldom finished his quote of four overs.
But for GT, he has started bowling himself into the powerplay, extracting the early juice from the pitch along with Mohammad Shami, and has been quite successful in doing so.
While he has not taken a truckload of wickets in this phase of the game, with an economy of 6.73 since IPL 2022, he has played his role as a powerplay enforcer with astute perfection.