Why didn't Hardik Pandya give more overs to Lockie Ferguson during Bangalore game?

Gujarat have been superb in the ongoing Indian T20 League 2022. While they won 10 out of their 14 games in the group stages, they have already confirmed their spot at the top of the points table. Thus, they will get two chances to make it to the final.

However, their last game of the group stage saw them lose to Bangalore by eight wickets. It was a rare bad day on the field for the Hardik Pandya-led side. After being asked to chase 169, the Faf du Plessis-led side got to their target rather comfortably. Gujarat's bowlers weren't really at their best.

However, what was shocking is that Lockie Ferguson didn't complete his full quota of four overs. As a matter of fact, he only bowled 1.4 overs. Thus, several experts and pundits were shocked by Pandya's decision to not give Ferguson more overs. After the completion of the game, the all-rounder stated that they wanted to go for bowlers who could take the pace off. He cited that the wicket was holding a bit.

"We had just a par score. The ball was stopping here and there and we were happy with 168. We wanted to give Lockie the opportunity, but the wicket was holding a bit. So we wanted to go for bowlers who bowled slower ones and took pace off the ball," said Hardik Pandya.

As far as Ferguson's performance in the 2022 edition is concerned, he has picked 12 wickets in 12 games at an average of 33.75. In the meanwhile, Pandya spoke about how they weren't at their best with the bat on Thursday. While praising Glenn Maxwell for his cameo, Pandya stated that his team are still on the right track.

"We pulled things back in the middle but the way Maxwell played in the end made us feel we were 10 runs short. We are on the right track and we just need to look after losing back to back wickets. The learning is to make sure we don't do it in the playoffs. It is always good to score runs. The way the boys are gelling and the way we are going, it is a learning for the player," he added.