On 16 April 2023, Gujarat Titans (GT) locked horns with Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the ongoing IPL. It was the first time these teams met each other since the final of IPL 2022. However, this time, RR did not make any mistakes as they defeated Hardik Pandya and his men by three wickets.
Pandya is known as an entertaining character on the field. He always comes up with different expressions and that left his fans crazy. During the death overs of RR’s chasse, when RR batters were smashing his bowlers, Pandya was still seen relaxing and motivating his bowlers. Even, after losing the match, an image has now gone viral where Hardik Pandya was seen smiling.
Here is the shared image:
A smile from Hardik Pandya after the loss against Rajasthan Royals. pic.twitter.com/On9eqRMTys
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) April 16, 2023
“When I was watching outside, I did feel we were maybe 10 runs short." - Hardik Pandya
Seeing the image, it seemed that it was quite a sarcastic smile from the GT skipper after losing the match. Fans also did not like it and they came up with some funny comments on social media. Speaking of the match, GT batted first and scored 177 runs for seven wickets in 20 overs. Hardik Pandya scored 28 runs off 19 balls, including two fours. With the ball, he grabbed one wicket for 24 runs in four overs. But, RR chased down the target in 19.2 overs. Shimron Hetmyer won the Player of the Match award for his match-winning knock.
However, during the post-match presentation, Pandya said that they were maybe 10 runs short. He said: "That's the beauty about this game. The game is never over. That was the message to the boys as well. The game is never over until it's over. So I think this is one more less for us. It's a very long tournament. Obviously all these losses remind you at the end of the tournament reminds you if you are not on the other side but it's still a very long tournament. A lot of matches left. We still need to play a lot of good cricket even if we had won today. I felt we were short some runs at the innings break. They bowled some good overs but we should have gone harder to put the game
Here is how fans have reacted to the viral image of Pandya:
It’s good to see him appreciating Rajasthan’s victory 🙌🏽
— Haque 🇧🇩 (@midtownndriverr) April 16, 2023
Hardik Pandya became Overconfident.
— Prem (@nawaabshahab) April 16, 2023
He deserved to lose the Match.
Nehra off field and pandya on field GT are most irritating team to watch
— LA LA LAND ☭ (@Pratikeighteen) April 16, 2023
Chapri thinks he is Ms dhoni 😭
— Diesel Engine (@HiWattafinish) April 16, 2023
This is sarcastic smile. Andar gaali de Raha hoga Shami ko.
— Shivanand (@ShivasRegal007) April 16, 2023
Sasta MSD, dekhte hai kitne time acting kr skta hai pic.twitter.com/T4wybaMAXm
— . (@Policricks_) April 16, 2023
Hardik: pic.twitter.com/YkgosYaNKV
— Anirban Ghoshᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠ (@Anirban_Ghosh_) April 16, 2023
Why is he arrogant always?!😡
— Srikanth (@G_Srikanth24) April 16, 2023
Gt fans be like 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/hpcIOmdHQG
— jayesh warang (@jayeshwarang) April 16, 2023