Indian stand-in captain Hardik Pandya got into a heated altercation with the umpire during the first ODI between India and Australia at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on Friday (March 17). This incident happened in the seventh over of Australia’s innings when batter Mitchell Marsh pulled out of his stance while Hardik was in his run-up.
Hardik was visibly annoyed at the incident as he had to resume his run-up after almost completing it. Hardik did not hide his emotions and let the umpire know about his frustration at the incident. The Men in Blue skipper exchanged a few words with umpire Nitin Menon and asked him to resolve the issue.
The star all-rounder’s annoyance was born out of the fact that the issue happened for the second time in the innings. Just a couple of overs before this incident, Steve Smith had to pull out midway while Mohammed Siraj was bowling due to the same issue of disruption with the side screen.
Talking about the match, India won the toss and chose to bowl first. Marsh gave Australia a quick start with a knock of 81 in just 65 balls. Siraj gave India a dream start by dismissing Travis Head in the second over of the match for a score of 5. Hardik broke a 72-run partnership between Steve Smith and Marsh by dismissing the Australian skipper for a score of 22.
Both Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav took one wicket each as Australia’s middle order stumbled and struggled to accelerate, with Marnus Labuschagne failing to get a big score.
India made a brave selection call by leaving out the in-form Axar Patel from the playing XI. Shardul Thakur kept his place as Umran Malik continued to sit out. Yuzvendra Chahal has also not made the playing XI.
