NAVI MUMBAI: The choice to go in opposition to the pattern and bat first didn't repay, however it's one thing Gujarat Titans wanted to do to get out of their consolation zone forward of the larger battles that await them of their debut Indian Premier League season, mentioned skipper Hardik Pandya.
Gujarat, who lead the IPL factors desk with eight wins from 10 video games and are set to succeed in the playoffs, misplaced to Punjab by eight wickets right here on Tuesday.
Gujarat struggled to 143 for eight, which Punjab chased down in 16 overs.

"We weren't even near a par rating, 170 would have been splendid; however we stored shedding wickets recurrently and by no means got here wherever close to it. I backed ourselves with the bat. Batting first wasn't a unsuitable name, we wanted to come back out of our consolation zone," mentioned Hardik.
"We have now chased nicely on this match. If required (later within the match), we needed to know learn how to set targets. That is a part of a studying curve, however that is all about studying to come back out of our personal consolation zone.
"We had been all the time speaking about getting higher even after we had been successful. We might speak about issues that did not go our manner immediately and would look to come back again higher within the coming video games."
Punjab skipper Mayank Agarwal lauded his workforce after the much-needed win. He determined to drop himself down the order to accommodate Jonny Bairstow on the high alongside Shikhar Dhawan.

Explaining the transfer, he mentioned: "We try to get the perfect out of Jonny. He is completed nicely opening. I mentioned, 'It is okay, I am going to bat at 4, I am going to anchor the innings at 4'. With Livi (Liam Livingstone) it was clear, Shikhar to bat via and Livi might exit and play the best way he desires to play. It was good the best way he performed, bought the rating shortly," mentioned Agarwal.
He additionally mentioned his workforce should achieve some consistency because the race for a play-off spot will get extra intense.
"We want to string just a few (wins), no higher time than getting just a few wins back-to-back."