Watch: Hardik Pandya Slips At Crucial Moment, Misses Jos Buttler's Catch
After that drop Buttler completed his half century and then went on a rampage hitting a flurry of boundaries to help push the run rate up.
Hardik Pandya is a livewire on the field and mostly a very safe fielder when it comes to taking catches. On Tuesday though Hardik slipped at a crucial moment during Gujarat Titans' IPL 2022 Qualifier 1 match against Rajasthan Royals. The Gujarat bowlers had done well to keep the Royals batters in check despite a whirlwind knock of 47 in 26 balls by captain Sanju Samson.
But Rajasthan's main man this season, Jos Buttler, was surprisingly off colour on the night as he failed to get going. But despite his low strike rate, Buttler hung in there for his team.
It was in the 17th over when Buttler was batting on 43 off 39 balls, when he tried to hoick left-rm medium pacer Yash Dayal over long off where Hardik was fielding.
As the Gujarat Titans captain backtracked to take an easy catch he slipped and fell and the ball went to the boundary.
WATCH: Hardik Pandya's Slip costs Gujarat Titans Jos Buttler's Wicket
Hardik Pandya Slips, Jos Buttler Survives
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After that drop Buttler completed his half century and then went on a rampage hitting a flurry of boundaries to help push the run rate up.
He then hit Mohammed Shami for a boundary and a huge six in the 19th over to take Royals' score above 170.
Buttler lived a charmed life on the night as Shami and Rashid Khan also dropped catches as the Englishman ended up scoring 89 eventually before getting run out, to help Rajasthan Royals post 188/6 in 20 overs.
Hardik could only smile as he knew that this could turn out to be a crucial slip from him in an important match.
Rajasthan Royals
Gujarat Titans
Jos Buttler
Hardik Pandya