Gujarat Titans' captain Hardik Pandya thinks basic errors and a few "soft balls" cost his side the playoff against Chennai Super Kings. Having won the toss, Hardik had opted to bowl and Super Kings went on to score 172. Titans struggled throughout the chase and were eventually bowled out for 157, losing by 15 runs - the exact number of extra runs Hardik thought they conceded.
"I think we were quite spot on [with the ball], but we made basic errors. And I think that cost us the game," Hardik told the broadcaster after the match. "After the first innings, the kind of wicket and at the same point of time the kind of bowlers we had, I felt we exactly went 15 runs above the score where we should have stopped them.
"A lot of things we did right. I think it's just that we bowled a couple of soft balls in between. We were executing quite some plans and all of a sudden in between we gave some runs ... where we must have given soft balls."
Hardik said the dew he expected when he put Super Kings in never came. "No, no, I don't think so," Hardik said when asked if he regretted his decision at the toss. "You know regrets are not good in life. We expected dew might come. It did not come but still I think we gave 15 runs extra and as a batting unit we lost wickets and we were always chasing the game.
"So overall I think in both departments we did not do the right things and I mean that's the reason I'm talking to you [as the losing captain] right now."
Hardik: 'Dhoni will make you feel like he is adding ten runs extra'
Hardik also praised Super Kings captain MS Dhoni for the way he used his bowlers.
"Yeah, see, that's the beauty of him. With his mind, and the kind of way he uses the bowlers, he will make sure that you feel like he is adding ten runs extra in the score.
"And you know, yeah, today [while] we kept losing wickets, he kept making sure that he used the right bowlers for the situation."