IPL 2022: We just wanted to be ruthless, says skipper Hardik Pandya after Gujarat beat Lucknow

Gujarat Titans' (GT) skipper Hardik Pandya on Tuesday said his side's plan to be ruthless on the field and relax post game paid rich dividends as they beat Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 62 runs to become the first team to qualify for the IPL playoffs here. Newcomers GT ensured their place in the last-four with 18 points from 12 games, while LSG are a close second with 16 points from 12 matches and need a win to secure their play-off berth. "Really, really proud of the boys. It is a great effort to qualify before the 14th game in this league. We just wanted to be ruthless today, and relax post game," Hardik said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

Read AlsoIPL 2022, GT vs LSG: Gujarat Titans lord over Lucknow Super Giants, become first team to enter playoffs

Rashid Khan took 4-24 as Gujarat Titans beat Lucknow Super Giants by 62 runs and became the first team to qualify for the IPL playoffs. Khan's burst in 3.5 overs helped bowl out Lucknow for a paltry 82 runs (13.5 overs) after Gujarat had scored 144/4 (20 overs). Shubman Gill's fourth half-century

The win came after back-to-back defeats for GT and Hardik said his side learnt a lot from their last game. "To be honest, in the last game, we kind of thought that the game was over before it was over. We were always under pressure in all the other games that we won, and we felt that we'd finish off the last game with the kind of batting we had. That was learning we took," he said. "I always feel that if you lose a game like the one we lost in our last game, we win and lose games as a team. Yes, we did not do what we wanted to do. We messed it up, but we messed it up as a team." Defending 145, GT bowled out LSG for 82 in 13.5 overs and Hardik was full of praise for his