"Inspired by bestie KL and mentor Thala!" - Fans troll Hardik Pandya for hitting slowest fifty against SRH in IPL 2022
Hardik Pandya brought up his first half-century as the Gujarat Titans (GT) captain and remained unbeaten as they posted 162/7 in their 20 overs.
The fifty was also the 28-year-old's slowest in the IPL, with Pandya consuming 42 deliveries to reach the figure.
It was a very uncharacteristic innings from Hardik Pandya, given that he is currently one of the most dangerous hitters in white-ball cricket. The added responsibility of the captaincy and his new role of anchoring the innings is what might have stopped him from playing freely.
Fans on Twitter were a bit baffled and disappointed by Hardik Pandya's approach against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Some feel that GT have got a below-par total and that their skipper should have tried to up the ante in the last few overs.
Here are some of the reactions:
Hardik has a SR of 97.7 and a dot% of 48.8% vs spin in overs 7-16 this season. Don't think this is working. Should promote Abhinav instead to smash spin.
Captaincy has turned Hardik into KL 😭
Hardik and Gill swapped souls?!
Hope it's Abhinav Manohar who comes out at 4 and not Hardik. Gujarat have been under utilising him.
@mufaddal_vohra It seems that Hardik Pandya following @msdhoni https://t.co/wncc7bBzRB
Relax guys Hardik anchored so that he can give this guy a lesson😌 https://t.co/olF32znDIt
You all saying Hardik bad innings... But these kinda innings only land him back to ICT I am saying... Our selector never see impact rather see runs.
Disappointed from Hardik
Poor knock, he should play at 5 or 6.
Missed the last third of the innings, but Hardik was 36 off 28 at the end of the 13th over, and he ends up with 50 off 42. Should have faced more balls in the last overs and needed to do better than just 14 off his last 14 balls. Don't think it's an above par innings. Specially,
Hardik playing with an SR less than 120 after facing 40+ balls is rare.
KL must have forgotten what he was talking about when it came to telling Hardik the last step of what to do, actually hit some 6s at the death
Painful knock from Hardik 😭
Tewatia was sacrificed for that 50 and that is something I respect as a fantasy player who has captained Hardik 👍
Hardik just needed an easy statpad season to get back in the Indian team, reason behind this team and this approach.
Hardik's innings isn't any good. But such is GT batting line-up. He is their best bet. Shubman firing in 2 games masked a lot of mediocrity in GT batting. Could've contributed to squad construction much better.
Shubman and Hardik this season https://t.co/H95BzK0kuq
These things shouldn't let u forget that how worse Hardik played today
Quite astonishing how Hardik has gone from being one of best finishers in the competition in 2020 to a Batter who isn't even properly anchoring in 2022.
This innings of his has been trademark bad T20 innings,his strike rate has kept decreasing throughout.
Hardik's worst 50 ever. Why is he celebrating for this? 🤔🤔
Today's batting was all about Hardik Pandya X Dhoni tips . https://t.co/ap8QNVVqgP
I couldn’t watch Hardik’s batting today but is there actually an issue of being more responsible or it has more to do with teams figuring him out a lot better ? twitter.com/raunitranjan2/…
Negative innings from hardik , totally inspired from his bestie KL & mentor thala 🤦🤦
#IPL2022
#SRHvsGT
#SRHvGT
After inning of 50 runs in 42 balls by Hardik https://t.co/ZnjBJMfer7
This is very unlike Hardik Pandya innings.Being a captain doesn't mean being an anchor everytime.
#SRHvsGT
Unusual innings this from Hardik Pandya - he's somehow not been able to kick on into a new gear and it's so unlike him. Again, it puts into perspective their batting order - Abhinav can bat higher up with Hardik having the launchpad later on #IPL2022 #SRHvGT
Hardik Pandya's slowest 50s in IPL:
42 balls v SRH, Today
41 balls v RCB, 2018
25 balls v KKR, 2015
20 balls v RR, 2020
17 balls v KKR, 2019
Via Cricbuzz
Hardik pandya played like Virat Kohli today
Properly stappading
#ipl2022
Someone edit KL and Hardik's face on "dur rahiye mere bete se" meme pic. 🤣
Hardik another patient of Dhonisque style of batting syndrome !!
#GTvSRH
KLR giving tips to Hardik on how to get his ICT place back. twitter.com/ThatWickedGuy_…
No hate to hardik pandya just imagine virat kohli or ms dhoni batting at 50 (42) whole #CricketTwitter would have gone crazy 💀
Hardik Pandya's patient fifty steers GT to 162/7
Kane Williamson won the toss for the fourth time this season and had no hesitation in putting GT into bat as dew could make chasing easier. GT have banked a lot on star opener Shubman Gill to provide them with those flying starts.
However, the 22-year-old had to endure a rare failure, thanks to a one-handed stunner from Rahul Tripathi. Matthew Wade's struggles continued as the southpaw was undone by a rocket from speedster Umran Malik. The SRH pacer found his rhythm straightaway and hit the GT skipper on the grill on his very first ball.
The GT captain responded in fine fashion and smashed two boundaries off the next two deliveries. While many felt that Pandya would unleash himself, that wasn't to be as he went into a shell and concentrated more on rotating the strike and batting deep.
A handy cameo from Abhinav Manohar in the end helped GT post a fighting total on the board. Williamson will be happy with the efforts his bowlers put in to restrict GT. However, Pandya would still believe that his IPL team can defend the total with the gun bowling attack that they have.
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