Hardik Pandya’s captaincy and batting have been the driving force behind Gujarat Titans playing near-flawless cricket and making the final of the IPL, their first, on Tuesday. Pandya credited the transformation to his family and his teammates.

“I’ve started to balance things in my life... Has been a constant effort through the last couple of years. In the end, my family, my son, my wife, and my brother (Krunal) as well have played a big role,” Pandya said.

“They kind of allowed me to get neutral in life. I look forward to go home and spend some time with family, and that’s made me a better cricketer as well.

“I don’t have much feeling right now. Trying to be neutral again I’ll say. All the 23 players are different characters, bring different things to the table,” the winning captain said.

“I was saying to (Man of the Match) David Miller as well, if you have good people around you, you get good things. It’s been that story for us. I genuinely see even the players in the dugout praying for them to make sure they do well. That is something fantastic and that is the reason we have reached where we have reached. It’s all about making sure we respect this game.”

He also credited Rashid Khan’s performance. “Rashid has been fantastic throughout the season. But I’m proud of Miller and the way we have played,” Pandya said.

Royals captain Sanju Samson said they had a good total but the Titans deserved all the credit for chasing it down.

“I felt the wicket was a bit sticky and there was a lot of swing in the Powerplay... But they played really well to chase the score down,” said Samson. “It was a bit two-paced and bounce was also not even... I just went after the bowling from ball one and I got a bit lucky to get a few runs in the Powerplay, but the wicket was a bit tough to bat on and we finished off really well.

“Scoring that kind of a total on this wicket in these conditions, against that bowling attack was a great performance by our batters.”