Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans won the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 title. They defeated Rajasthan Royals in the final. The performance of Gujarat Titans is more surprising as no one even considered him as a title contender at the time of IPL 2022 Mega Auction. On the contrary, he made a great start in the tournament. He achieved a thrilling 5 wicket win against Lucknow Super Giants in his first match itself and maintained his dominance throughout the tournament. If we look at his campaign, almost everyone in both departments of the game contributed. Captain Pandya along with young talent Shubman Gill and David Miller were the backbone on the batting front, while Mohammed Shami and star spinner Rashid Khan razed the opposition’s fortress with the ball.
Reviewing the game of Gujarat Titans after IPL 2022, former Indian cricket team player Sanjay Manjrekar termed Gujarat Titans betting on Hardik Pandya and David Miller as Big Gamble. He also discussed the lessons learned from IPL 2022. Sanjay Manjrekar said, “You have got conflicting conclusions regarding the auction. When the auction was over, no one considered Mumbai Indians worthy to be champions. Everyone thought they messed up the auction. Gujarat Titans had a similar thinking too.
Sanjay Manjrekar said during a discussion on ESPN Cricinfo, ‘We were covering it (auction) live. Not many people thought that they (Gujarat Titans) took good decisions regarding the selection of players. Be it the captain or the players. People didn’t believe that they had found the right formula and that they would be on their way to victory. I think the lesson to be learned from this IPL is that you don’t win the IPL title by doing well in the auctions.
Sanjay Manjrekar said, ‘The performance of Mumbai Indians can be assumed for a while that the mistakes of the auction were heavy on them, but Gujarat Titans – only those players who were gambled and how big of this gamble did they make. Return given, this is the story of Gujarat Titans. Hardik Pandya Big Gamble, David Miller Big Gamble and what a huge return these guys have given.