IPL 2022: Not thinking about India comeback, my focus on IPL now: Hardik after third half-century on the trot

Pandya,
who
is
in
red-hot
form,
said
his
national
team
comeback
in
not
in
his
hands
and
he
is
just
focussed
on
doing
well
in
the
ongoing
IPL
season.

Pandya
missed
out
the
previous
match
against
defending
champions
Chennai
Super
Kings
due
to
a
groin
injury.
But
the
all
rounder
was
in
fine
form
as
he
hit
a
solid
49-ball
67
against
the
Knights.

IPL
SPECIAL
PAGE

“I
don’t
think
it’s
my
(India)
comeback
anyway
and
secondly
I
don’t
focus
on
my
comeback.
I
focus
on
the
game
which
I
play,”
Pandya
said
during
the
post-match
media
conference
on
Saturdya.

The
28-year-old
all
rounder
made
his
last
appearance
for
India
against
Namibia
in
the
T20
World
Cup
in
Dubai
in
November
last
year
and
then
struggled
to
manage
his
bowling
workload
post
his
back
surgery
only
to
return
to
action
in
the
IPL.

IPL
2022:
KKR
vs
GT,
Highlights:
Gujarat
Titans
climb
to
the
top
with
8-run
win
over
Kolkata
Knight
Riders

In
the
ongoing
edition
of
the
IPL,
Pandya,
who
is
impressive
with
bat
and
ball,
is
donning
the
captain’s
hat
for
new
IPL
franchise
Gujarat
Titans.
Currently,
Pandya
is
sitting
second
in
the
run
chart
behind
leader
Jos
Buttler
with
295
runs
from
six
innings
at
an
average
of
73.75.

“At
the
moment,
I
am
playing
IPL
and
will
focus
on
IPL,
then
will
see
where
the
future
takes.
It’s
never
in
my
hands
now.
I
focus
on
the
team
which
I’m
playing
in.
We
are
doing
well
and
I’m
very
happy,”
he
added.

Under
Pandya’s
captaincy,
Gujarat
is
currently
placed
at
the
top
of
the
points
table.
The
all
rounder
said
he’s
relishing
every
bit
of
his
captaincy
role
for
the
debutants.

“Captaincy
obviously
helps.
I’m
always
a
cricketer
who
loves
to
take
responsibilities.
I
have
a
bit
of
understanding
of
the
game
having
batted
for
so
many
years,”
he
said.

“You’re
successful
because
you’ve
an
understanding
of
the
game.
Having
played
so
many
matches,
I’m
able
to
use
my
experience.
So
far,
so
good,”
he
added.

KKR
vs
GT
IPL
2022:
Full
List
of
Award
Winners,
Man
of
The
Match,
Post
Match
Presentation
Highlights,
Score

The
Titans
got
off
to
a
spectacular
start,
were
133/2
in
16
overs
but
they
lost
wickets
in
heap
in
the
back-end
—
four
in
the
final
over
—
to
settle
for
156/9.
“I
feel
we
were
10-15
runs
short,
they
kind
of
finished
very
strong.
But
with
the
kind
of
bowling
attack,
I
backed
my
chances.
The
wicket
had
up
and
down
bounce.
The
back
of
the
length
ball
was
working
pretty
nicely,”
Pandya
added.

We
still
believe
we’re
good
enough
to
be
in
the
semis:
McCullum

For
the
Shreyas
Iyer-led
KKR,
it
was
their
fourth
loss
on
the
trot
but
head
coach
Brendon
McCullum
said
they’re
confident
to
make
the
semi-finals.

“The
confidence
in
the
batting
unit
should
stay
relatively
high.
We
still
believe
we’re
good
enough
to
be
in
the
semifinals
and
be
the
there
at
the
thick
end
of
the
competition,”
McCullum
said
after
the
match.

Chasing
157,
KKR
were
going
great
guns
with
Russell
on
fire
and
needed
29
runs
from
the
last
two
overs.
But
Alzarri
Joseph
produced
a
fine
final
over
and
dismissed
Russell
for
a
25-ball
48
to
derail
their
chase.

“Our
batters
have
been
very
good
so
far.
We
scored
210-odd
in
the
last
game.
We
have
got
170-plus
batting
first
(against
Sunrisers
Hyderabad),
our
batters
have
been
predominantly
very
good,”
he
said,
backing
their
batters.

“Overall
I
think
we
have
been
batting
pretty
well.
From
34/4
and
to
be
able
to
rebuild
the
innings
and
explode
with
Russell
was
pretty
good
but
unfortunately
that
was
not
quite
enough,”
he
added.

Dejected
at
his
side’s
loss,
KKR
skipper
Shreyas
Iyer
said:
“The
way
we
started
in
the
powerplay
while
chasing
and
even
with
the
ball.
We
shouldn’t
have
conceded
that
much
in
these
conditions.

“I
think
160-165
was
a
decent
score
and
we
did
well
to
keep
them
below
that.
In
this
format,
all
matches
that
are
close
we
need
to
win
those
and
only
then
we
can
climb
up
the
ladder.
Three
out
of
our
last
four
were
very
close
matches.
The
energy
and
vibe
is
high
before
the
game
and
it
is
disappointing
that
we
are
unable
to
convert
it,”
he
signed
off.

Following
the
match,
Gujarat
is
placed
on
top
of
the
table
with
six
wins
out
of
seven
games.
Meanwhile,
KKR
is
placed
seventh
on
the
points
table,
as
they
fell
to
their
fifth
loss
from
eight
games.