Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill rued the costly errors his team made while fielding against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Qualifier 1 at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala. The Titans dropped as many as three catches, including the costly one of RCB captain Rajat Patidar, who effectively killed the game after his unbeaten 93 from 33 balls.
Patidar was on 20 when Kagiso Rabada put down the RCB skipper, who miscued one to deep square leg off Prasidh Krishna. That proved the most costly one for GT, who had also missed a run-out chance. "I think we were going pretty well up until the 12th, 13th over, and I don't think our fielding was at par, dropping a couple of catches, and then our ground fielding was not up to the mark," Gill said after the 92-run loss.
It was not our day: Gill after drubbing
Meanwhile, the GT skipper conceded that it wasn't their day as RCB made them pay big for the errors made on the field. He stated that they do discuss the importance of fielding in the team meetings, but fell short in the game this time. "No, it's definitely something that we do address in the team meetings and also in the practice sessions. But like I said, I don't think it was our day, the intensity was right there, but under pressure situations, we were not up to the mark," he said.
Gill felt they could still have pulled something off had they got a strong start in the powerplay. However, GT lost both Sai Sudharsan and Gill himself in the first four overs and lost half of their side in the powerplay. "I mean, it's all about getting a good start, you know. If you get a good power play, and on a ground like this, we know the ball travels, and the outfield is also very quick. So if you had gotten off to a good start in the power play, any target with the kind of way the wicket was playing and the kind of ground that we were playing at, it could have been chaseable," he added.
GT will now head to New Chandigarh and wait for the winner of the Eliminator between the Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals, also at the same venue, in a bid to make it to the final on the second attempt. The Eliminator will take place on Wednesday, while the Qualifier 2 will be held on Friday. RCB are waiting for one of the three to join them in the final on Sunday.
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