India registered victory in the T20I match against Sri Lanka with middle order’s Hardik Pandya setting the stage on fire with his unforgettable dance moves.
During the second T20I match, which was played between India and Sri Lanka, the stand out player of the match was Hardik Pandya who played an extremely instrumental role in getting India to victory and again his celebration moves on the cricket ground became a center of attraction once again. India emerged winner, thus taking an obliterating 2-0 lead out of the three match series.
The latter bowler, Ravi Bishnoi, ended up being the leading bowler for India, taking 3 wickets for 26 runs and removing the batsmen like Pathum Nissanka, Dasun Shanaka, and Wanindu Hasaranga of Sri Lanka but the former, Hardik Pandya set the process rolling when the game was really tilted. At the end of the 16th over, Sri Lanka was placed on a healthy 139/3, however, Hardik picked the set batsmen Kaminu Mendis and Kusal Perera, who was a provider of a fighting half century to the team, and changed the course of the match in India’s favor. This saw Sri Lanka batting fall after that, managing to score only an additional 22 runs in the last four overs and thus were dismissed for 161/9.
The first stroke which brought House into operation was a shot by Kaminu Mendis for Rinku Singh in the deep square leg. Three balls later, he got holed out for a six off Kusal Perera’s bat and then to a short ball from Hardik, Rinku took a diving catch of a pull shot. This turned out to be amplified when Hardik reacted to Kusal by staring at him with an ominous look and turned into a showstopper to enhance the reaction of the Indian on-field.
Apart from bowling, Hardik also played a great role with the bat to build up the Indian chase giving an unbeaten 22 with the help of three fours and a six. His endeavors saw to it that India was the winner while, at the same time strengthening his image as a champion player.
Sena Ganesan, for example, published the title ‘Here is why Hardik is a unique character –Pak fans will agree!’ in which he talks extensively about Hardik Patel birthday celebrations including the nonchalant shrug that Hardik gave to Shadab Khan during the T20 World Cup match between India and Pakistan. His skills of performance and many peculiar reactions during the games are considered his trademark.
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Various Issues have been raised over his exclusion of rests in the ODI Squad including Hardik Pandya.
In the lead up to the Sri Lanka series, there was huge news when Hardik Pandya was dropped as the T20I captain which was taken by Suryakumar Yadav. Hardik was the vice-captain during the recently concluded T20 World Cup; however, the team management stripped him off the leadership position due to his fitness issues and named Shubman Gill as new captain of the side. This change that came with the appointment of new head coach Gautam Gambhir and the BCCI chairman of selectors demonstrated that less of the leadership positions would go to players that frequently have fitness problems.
There was much talk of workload management when Hardik was left out of India’s ODI squad. The chief India selector Ravi Shastri with his faith in Hardik in the longer version of the game said he will be available when the Champions Trophy is scheduled next year. Shastri said more or less that if fit, Hardik is still in the running for a place in the team of 15.
Pandya, who is seen both on the field and off it often provokes curiosity and interest amongst cricket lovers around the globe due to his performance on the ground and his celebrations in particular, makes India’s performance colorful and more interesting.
Report By: Sonali Sarkar
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