IPL 2023: Hardik Pandya instills a lot of confidence within the Gujarat Titans’ squad, says David Miller

David Miller heaped praise on Hardik Pandya for his leadership skills after Gujarat Titans won two games in a row in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.

After getting the better of four-time champion Chennai Super Kings (GT), the Titans defeated David Warner’s Delhi Capitals (DC) by six wickets on Tuesday, April 4 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.

The Titans are placed on top of the table with four points and a net run rate of +0.700. After being asked to chase down 163, GT romped home with 11 balls left in their innings.

“Hardik is definitely one of the top players I have worked with. I have been very privileged to work under him. My first captain in the IPL was Adam Gilchrist, so very privileged to be in this position. We never really knew Hardik last year, but got to know him off the field.

He is his own person and instills a lot of confidence within the squad. He’s a huge team man and makes a lot of time for the younger guys,” Miller told the reporters.

Sai Sudharsan became the Player of the Match after he scored an unbeaten 62 off 48 balls with the help of four fours and two sixes. Miller also hailed the left-handed batter for his knock under pressure.

“Sai played a few games last year and to come in and do what he has done in the last two games has been really encouraging for the team. He is a seriously talented player and we do need him in the squad. It’s nice to see him doing really well and great to see him become the Player of the Match,” he stated.

Barring Anrich Nortje, none of the DC bowlers managed to trouble the GT batters. Nortje cleaned up opening batters Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha with sheer pace. Miller said that it’s necessary for batters to counter Nortje on the front foot rather than just playing on the backfoot.

“With the express pace of Nortje, you naturally want to hang back, but it’s important to keep playing forward, getting on the front foot. We were chatting about it at the half-way stage,” Miller added.