"Let's Be Ruthless": Hardik Pandya-Led Gujarat Titans Storm Into Playoffs

The Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans beat KL Rahul's Lucknow Super Giants in an IPL 2022 match to become the first team to enter the playoffs.

Hardik Pandya is a happy man. Devoid of any captaincy experience, he was made the Gujarat Titans skipper at the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. And now, his team is the first to enter the IPL 2022 playoffs. They sealed their place in the top four with two matches to spare. In 12 games, they gave nine wins and 18 points. The victory over LSG was all the more sweeter after GT suffered hiccups in their last two games against Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians.

After the win over LSG, Pandya revealed the message that was sent across to the GT side during the match against LSG, which they won by a massive 62-run margin.

"Really proud of the boys. When we started this journey together, we obviously believed in ourselves, but before the 14th game to have qualified, it's a great effort and really proud of us. Last game, I spoke to the boys (after the loss against MI), that we thought that the game was already over before it was over," Hardik Pandya said after the match.

"That was a learning which we took. I think all the games that we've won, we were always under pressure. The last game was the only game that we were ahead of the game and we knew the kind of batters we have and we'll finish it off. But it did not happen. That was the talk of the group. Even in this game (against LSG) when they were eight down, I said, 'Let's be ruthless. This game is beautiful. If it's not over, it's not over. So let's make sure that we finish it. If they're down, let's keep them down, get this done and relax post-game.'"

He further added how GT made a comeback despite losing their last two games. "I always feel when you lose a game like we did the last game, in a group, what is important is that you believe 'we have won games as a team and we lose games as a team.' We did not do what we were supposed to do and we know messed it up a little, but we will mess it up as a team. How we take credit like we say as a team, 'We won,' we'll make sure that if we lose, we'll say, 'We lost,' instead of saying, 'This guy, that guy.' We kept our laughter too. It's important to make sure the vibe is always there," he said.