Gavaskar Slams Pandya for Choosing Chahar Over Himself in GT Clash

By Kavya Jain 07 May 2025, 13:47 IST

Gavaskar Slams Pandya for Choosing Chahar

Sunil Gavaskar has called out Hardik Pandya for not backing himself to deliver the final over, like he has done on many occasions, in the match against Gujarat Titans.

Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has criticised Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya for not bowling the last over of the match himself. Pandya tasked Deepak Chahar with the responsibility of bowling the final over of the match against GT in the rain-affected match. Chahar had to defend 15 runs, but the pressure of the final over got to him.

Gavaskar Calls Out Pandya

Gavaskar was not impressed with Pandya as he did not back himself for bowling the last over as he had previously done so, including the T20 World Cup final last year against South Africa.

“As I explained earlier, because of the fact that he had bowled those final overs – and bowled them very well – he bowled over against Bangladesh, where, I mean, we got 3 wickets, Bangladesh had to score 4 or 5, and India managed to win that game by 1.

And then in the final of the ICC T20 World Cup last year in the West Indies, in Barbados, he bowled that final over and India won,” Gavaskar said while speaking on JioStar.

Pandya bowled just one over on Tuesday against GT, which turned out to be an expensive one as he bowled two no-balls and gave away 18 runs.

Deepak Chahar not used to Bowling in the Final Overs

Gavaskar stated that Chahar is not used to bowling the last five overs, as Mumbai has mostly used him in the powerplay overs.

“So with that, with one over left, I would have thought that – because, let’s face it, also, you know, in commentary we heard that Deepak Chahar really hasn’t bowled in the final 5 overs.

This is probably, you know, one of those rare occasions, so he, you know, he’s not used to bowling in the final overs. So I think that is where the… uh… but, I mean, the game could have changed,” Gavaskar observed.

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