Hardik Pandya once again proved to be India’s Mr. Dependable as far as finishing games go as he led India to a memorable series victory against Australia. In the third T20I of the series on Sunday (September 25), the Men in Blue defeated the visitors by six wickets with just one ball to spare to complete a 2-1 series victory.
Chasing a total of 186, India’s innings got off to a poor start as both openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma were dismissed early. However, a stunning 100+ run partnership between Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli put the team on the course for a victory as both players scored half-centuries.
However, the team stumbled for a while and lost momentum after Suryakumar’s dismissal as both Kohli and Hardik struggled to keep batting at the same rate. With 11 needed off the last over, Kohli hit a six on the first ball and took some pressure off the Indians. However, the ex-Indian skipper was dismissed on the second delivery with the home team still needing five runs in four balls. Ultimately, a couple of good balls took the equation down to 4 in 2 balls.
With the pressure building, all eyes were on Pandya and whether he could complete the job. However, Pandya appeared cool as a cucumber and was spotted giving a nod of confidence to Dinesh Karthik on the other end. This gesture went on social media and reminded fans of a similar thing he did in the Asia Cup group stage encounter against Pakistan last month before smashing a big six to complete the job for Team India in Dubai. In Hyderabad, Pandya hit a boundary on the penultimate delivery of the match to complete India’s win.
India will now immediately turn attention to a home series against South Africa which starts on September 28. Pandya will miss the three game series as he will report to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for some conditioning related work ahead of the 2022 T20 World Cup.
