IPL 2023: Defedmimg Champion and Gujarat Titans’ captain Hardik Pandya feels that the introduction of an ‘Impact Player’ in this edition of the Indian Premier League 2023 has made captaining job much tougher. fact that there are so many players to choose from makes the ‘Impact Player’ rule very tricky. This the first time in IPL’s history where teams will be allowed to make a tactical substitution. Follow Indian Premier League 2023 LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
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Pandya on winning the 1st match of IPL 2023 and the Impact Player rule
“To be very honest, having this impact rule makes my job quite difficult because when you have too many options, you have to pick the right option, and I think because of this reason, someone will bowl less,” Pandya said.
“I had to just pick and kind of back (my instinct), where I felt that going hard lengths was the plan for me, and it kind of worked, so yeah, some of the bowlers came late but they did the job for us.”
Pandya praised Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan, who was awarded as the Player of the Match for his two wickets and his crucial couple of boundaries which lead to Gujarat Titan’s victory in the last over.
“When you have Rashid Khan in your team, it gives you a sigh of relief,” Hardik said. “He can come and bowl and get you wickets and at the end of the day if you need some runs he’ll come and smack it and make our job easy.”
How the match played out
Chennai Super Kings set Gujarat Titans a target of 179 due to Ruturaj Gaikwad sublime 92 off 50 balls. His heroics however went in vain as Shubman Gill’s 63 while opening combined with cameos by Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia, helped the Titans win the opening match.
Perfect start @gujarat_titans 💯 pic.twitter.com/doe6yiaigj
— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) March 31, 2023
Tushar Deshpande became the first Impact Player in IPL history when he came in for Ambati Rayudu during the 1st innings. Left handed batter Sai Sudharsan replaced Kane Williamson and batted at his no. 3 spot after he injured his knee while fielding.
