Back to winning ways after four defeats in a row, a happy Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya said he always had faith in Tilak Varma’s talent and it was about time the Hyderabad man delivered as per his potential, like he did in the 99-run victory over Gujarat Titans on Monday.

Tilak played a stunning knock of an unbeaten 101 off 45 balls. After being 19 off 22, he got an earful from his skipper during the second strategic time-out, and things changed rapidly from there.

Hardik’s message To Tilak

“The message I think, I realised that the kind of talent Tilak has, he really doesn’t have to worry. So my message to him was just watch the ball and hit the ball. Was about time he came out and delivered. It was much needed for Tilak, the group and Mumbai Indians,” Hardik said after the match in Ahmedabad.

This was the first time MI won in Ahmedabad and Hardik believes this could be “The Match” when it starts falling in place for his side.

“It’s always challenging to go away and win but at the same time Ahmedabad has been a tough place for Mumbai Indians. We played some good cricket. Feels very special because it was much needed.”

Hardik defends Bumrah strategy

He also took a dig at critics who have questioned the move to not use Japrit Bumrah first up.

“It’s quite fascinating. I see a lot of people asking why Jassi isn’t bowled up front but he’s only bowled the first over 7 or 8 times in 140 odd games. So it’s not a Hardik Pandya problem, it’s an everybody problem because Bumrah is so special you want to use him later on.”

Tilak’s special century

For Tilak, the first hundred indeed was special.

“Of course, first 100 will be always special. It was very important for us. We don’t have much time from here. Every game is important for us.

“In the last five games, I haven’t had much time in the middle. So this game I wanted to spend time in the middle. So you saw first 20 balls, I was just batting ball by ball. And then later on, I was aware about the the ability I have,” he said about scoring 82 off last 23 balls.

“I was just seeing the situation and what the team needs and I was just stable and keeping my head still and following my basics. I have all the fancy shots but when the team is under pressure it’s just about backing your skills and today it’s given me good results.”

Gill’s disappointment

Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill was visibly dejected and didn’t mince word about the last six overs in which they gave away as many as 95 runs.

“Honestly, I think we gave away too many runs in the middle overs. On a wicket like that, 160-170 was a par score,” Gill said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

Towards the end, three overs — two from Prasidh Krishna and one from Ashok Sharma — cumulatively cost them 67 runs and Gill wasn’t pleased at all.

“I think the wicket was on the slower side. I don’t think we hit the right areas. Length balls, some were coming on nicely some weren’t. We weren’t able to hit that length more consistently.”

He was also critical of the batting effort stating that the it “could have been better because there was dew.”

However, he also didn’t want to dwell too much on the heavy defeat and termed it a “small hiccup”.

“Small hiccup but now we have a couple of games on the road so hopefully we’ll come back in winning form.”