Hardik Pandya took the World Cricket by storm in India vs Pakistan Clash on Sunday (28th August),. The flamboyant all-rounder took the Men in Blue Home by scoring a quick-fire cameo of 33 runs in 17 balls. He was also brilliant with the ball in hand as he took 3 wickets. He proved to be the game changer for Team India in a High Voltage Match.
Hardik Pandya knew the importance of the match and wanted to make a statement after the disastrous ICC T20 World Cup 2021. He was heavily criticized for his poor form in that tourney. The all-rounder had the fire in his eyes from the ball one and he made sure that there are no setbacks this time for India against the Men in Green.
Wasim Akram on Hardik Pandya
Former Pakistan Captain was all praise-worthy for Indian all-rounder. “I think he knows he is one of the best all-rounders in the world right now. He works according to that. His mindset is set according to that. He is bowling 140kph-plus and when he comes out to bat, he is a very important member of the Indian team in all the formats,” Wasim Akram told Star Sports on Sunday.
“Like I said, in my opinion, he is the best all-rounder in world cricket right now. The way he is batting he is better than Andre Russell, better than all the all-rounders we have. He is consistent. He is an electrifying fielder. He is one of the top cricketers in the world,” he added.
Hardik Pandya dominated the match
Hardik Pandya came in to bat when the required run rate was touching 10 runs per over. He had his intentions clear as he wanted to be bang on in the run chase. He was quite happy as the Pakistani pacers weren’t bowling Yorker nor using pace variation as there was express pace on display which made life easier for him.
In the 19th over Hardik had whacked 3 boundaries against Haris Rauf which meant that India are in the driver’s seat; as they required only 7 runs to win in the last over. However, there was some drama in the last over where Nawaz got rid of Ravindra Jadeja; but it was a matter of time before Hardik smashed a huge six over the long-on boundary. Hardik was quite instrumental in the run chase as he took calculative risks.
