Sanjay Manjrekar Points Out Hardik Pandya’s Biggest Mistake In The Last Over: Gujarat Titans’ Mohit Sharma made an impressive turnaround in the just-concluded 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League. He was one of the top performers with the ball for the Gujarat Titans this season. With 27 wickets off 14 games, Sharma finished as the second-highest wicket-taker for the team.
Mohit impressed one and all with his death bowling. All thanks to his brilliant performances, he was given the responsibility to bowl the last over against Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2023 final last night at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Mohit almost won the game for his side, however, Ravindra Jadeja pulled off a miraculous win for CSK.
The MS Dhoni-led side needed 13 off six balls. Mohit started off brilliantly, executing some lethal yorkers. With 10 runs required from the final 2 balls, one of GT’s substitute players ran into the field with drinks and was seen having a word with the bowler.
Skipper Hardik Pandya was also seen having a chat with Sharma. What happened next in unforgettable as Jadeja smashed him for a stunning six and a match-winning four to seal the deal for Chennai Super Kings.
Sanjay Manjrekar Pointed Out A Big Mistake Of Hardik Pandya
Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manhrekar has questioned the Gujarat Titans (GT) team management for passing on messages to pacer Mohit Sharma in the crucial final over of the game against CSK.
Manjrekar pointed out that the delay was unnecessary, as it disrupted the pacer’s rhythm. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Manjrekar said:
“Mohit Sharma is not somebody that we know is a yorker-bowler. His main strength is taking the pace off, and here, he was nailing the perfect yorkers. He was in a zone, three brilliant yorkers to dangerous batters. He has a drink!
“There are a couple of people who come around. When he was walking back to his bowling mark, he was looking calm and confident. Why would you spoil that rhythm?”
In fact, during the discussion, former Australian cricketer Tom Moody also echoed the same sentiments as Manjrekar. He claimed that the GT think tank tried to spoil the momentum of Mohit ahead of the last two balls.
He highlighted that the bowler seemed to be very confident and GT should have backed him. He said:
“He [Mohit Sharma] was absolutely spot on, wasn’t he? His first two or three balls were the perfect yorkers, and it was nearly like the closer it got the more complicated it got with regards to the interference of Mohit Sharma. The input from the captain and the discussions around what should be done.”
He added: “When you have that type of momentum, when you have that type of confidence in what you do, you’d expect that the is pretty confident and knows what he is doing. I just felt that layer of stalling of that over may have just broken the momentum, from a bowler’s perspective.”
