If there is one player in this Indian team that the Rohit Sharma-led side can always rely on to perform when the pressure is on, it is Hardik Pandya. The star all-rounder once again stood up to the challenge when the team had their backs to the ball at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday against Pakistan.
Hardik put on a brilliant all-round performance as India sealed a brilliant 4-wicket victory of the last ball. With the ball, Hardik took three important wickets of Haider Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, and Shadab Khan. Later, he rescued India from the dead as put on a 113-run partnership with Virat Kohli after the team found themselves in trouble at 31-4 in the chase of 160.
Later, Hardik revealed he had told his family before that match that it was going to be his day.The star all-rounder revealed a special message he sent to his close ones before the game started. “To be honest, I was just very happy to be at the situation which I was at. Being here, playing for my country, having such wonderful people around me, such wonderful cricketers around me and people.
“I just had a feeling, that’s why before the game I took a punt saying to all the closest people of my life, which are my brother, my wife, my sister-in-law, my manager, I message them saying that I’m gonna put on a show for you guys tonight. So whatever I do, it’s for you. I told Patty as well as I told you guys whether I wanted to be accountable, I wanted to be like Hardik today’s your day,” said Hardik to BCCI.TV.
In a video that went viral on the internet, Hardik broke down into tears after the match as he remembered his late-father following India’s historic win at the MCG on Sunday.
