Hardik Pandya vs Piyush Chawla in IPL: Decoding the stats

Gujarat Titans will lock horns with Mumbai Indians in match number 35 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. The Narendra Modi Stadium will host the exciting fixture on April 25 (7:30pm). All eyes will be on GT skipper Hardik Pandya and his clash against veteran leggie Piyush Chawla. The latter has been in incredible form this season. We decode the duel.

Hardik came back in form against LSG and played a match-winning knock. His duel with Chawla will be crucial. In four IPL meetings, Hardik has smashed 46 runs against Chawla in 21 deliveries. He owns a strike rate of 219.04 and has fallen to him once. He has slammed five sixes and two fours against the veteran leggie (average: 46).

Hardik fares decently against leg-spinners in the IPL. He has slammed 323 runs against leggies in the tournament at an average of 32.30. The dasher has the technique to take the leg-spinners to the cleaners as he owns a strike rate of 124.71. But his aggressive approach has also seen him fall to leg-spinners 10 times in 50 innings.

Chawla is a seasoned campaigner with many tricks up his sleeves. He has been around for many years and performed under different circumstances. He is the third-highest wicket-taker in the middle overs (7-16) with 121 scalps in 167 IPL appearances. He is only behind Yuzvendra Chahal (138) and Amit Mishra (137) in this regard. Chawls owns an economy of 7.68 in this period.

Hardik has raced to 2,708 runs in 112 IPL matches at an average of 29.68 (SR: 145.82). In IPL 2023, he has accumulated 115 runs in five matches, and his first fifty came in the last match. Chawla is the joint-fourth-highest wicket-taker in the IPL with 166 scalps in 171 matches. He is MI's highest wicket-taker this season with nine scalps in six matches.