IPL 2022 | 'The way Maxwell played made us feel we were short on runs' - Hardik Pandya

Gujarat Titans (GT) skipper Hardik Pandya said Glenn Maxwell's innings made the difference as they succumbed to their fourth defeat of the season against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Thursday.

After the match, in the post-match presentation, Pandya believes that RCB all-rounder's whirlwind knock of unbeaten 40 in 18 balls made them 10 runs short of a winning total.

"We had just a par score. The ball was stopping here and there, and we were happy with 168. We wanted to give Lockie [Ferguson] the opportunity, but the wicket was holding a bit. So, we wanted to go for bowlers who bowled slower ones and took pace off the ball. We pulled things back in the middle, but the way [Glenn] Maxwell played, in the end, made us feel we were ten runs short," Hardik Pandya told Star Sports in the post-match presentation.

"We are on the right track, and we just need to look after losing back to back wickets. The learning is to make sure we don't do it in the playoffs. It is always good to score runs. The way the boys are gelling and the way we are going, it is a learning for the players."

Wriddhiman Saha's injury likely to be a niggle, nothing serious

Wriddhiman Saha, who had scored 31 (22) with the help of four boundaries and a maximum, was also missing from the field in the second innings as he picked up a hamstring injury while batting which meant that Matthew Wade had to pick up the wicket-keeping gloves in the second innings. On Saha's injury, the Titans captain said:

"I don't know about [Wriddhiman] Saha's injury. He was feeling his hamstring. So, just precaution wise, we felt it was right to have Wadey [Matthew Wade] keep [wickets]."

Pandya played a captain's knock, scoring 62* in 47 balls with four fours and three sixes, but despite his efforts, the Titans could not defend the target as they lost the game in 18.4 overs with eight wickets to spare. Gujarat has already qualified for the playoffs, and they'll be featuring in the qualifier 1 of the IPL 2022 with the second-ranked team in the points table.