Former Indian batter Manoj Tiwary has lavished praise on Jason Holder after Gujarat Titans secured a four-wicket win against Punjab Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Sunday. Holder was the pick of the GT bowlers, returning with impressive figures of 4-24 in his quota of four overs. 

The lanky all-rounder accounted for Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Shreyas Iyer, and Xavier Bartlett. Thus, he played a key role in restricting PBKS to 163-9 and was awarded Player of the Match.

This is Holder’s second Player of the Match on the trot as he continues to impress. Tiwary said Holder is becoming the glue of the team with his consistent performances.

“He is quietly becoming the glue of the side that binds the team together. Because if he does well with the ball, then you have no concerns about the bowling unit. GT has four proper bowlers, and they have had concerns about the fifth option. Jason Holder has now bowled well in back-to-back matches now. Now they just need to find the right fifth bowler,” Manoj Tiwary said on Cricbuzz.

On the other hand, former Indian opener Virender Sehwag said the addition of Jason Holder has added balance to GT’s playing combination.

“Earlier, they had Glenn Phillips, and if he had fired, their batting would have been stronger. They still have problems with their middle order. Today, Washington came in and scored 40 runs to win the game for GT, but if he goes at No.4 and gets out quickly, then they don’t have the middle order batting to cover for that. Now that Holder is there, there is atleast some cover, and he can do both batting and bowling. Sure, Holder was an option from the start, but GT had to give the preference to batting, which is where Glenn Phillips came in,” Sehwag said.

Gujarat Titans will next take on Rajasthan Royals at Jaipur on Saturday.