IND Vs WI: Ex India Player Attacks Hardik Pandya For Denying Tilak Varma's Fifty In 3rd T20I, Says 'You Didn't Have NRR Pressure'

Former India opener, Aakash Chopra opened up on Hardik Pandya’s match-winning six against West Indies in the third T20I match on Tuesday (August 09) and lambasted the skipper for denying Tilak Varma’s consecutive half-century.

While speaking on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra praised Tilak Varma for being consistent in the T20I series against the Caribbeans and for scoring 30+ runs in his first three international matches.

Chopra lauded Tilak and said that his temperament is good and that he was aggressive at first but then played a strong partnership with Suryakumar Yadav.

The former batsman also said that in the third T20I match, it should have been a half-century for the 20-year-old.

“Tilak Varma, outstanding. First Indian to get 30+ scores in his first three international innings. He scored a fifty in his previous games and was close to another this time too, in fact, it should’ve been a fifty. His temperament is good, his range is good, he was aggressive at first and then was happy to play second-fiddle to Suryakumar,” Aakash Chopra said on Tilak Varma.

While sharing his opinion, Aakash Chopra attacked Hardik Pandya for taking away the chance from Tilak Varma to score his consecutive fifty and said that Hardik Pandya told Tilak Varma to save the wicket but then himself started to hit aggressively even when the Men in Blues don’t need net run rate.

Chopra further said that ‘they’ care about others’ individual milestones and that even saving wickets doesn’t matter now.

“Hardik comes to bat, tells him it’s important to remain not out, don’t get carried away. Then Hardik hits aggressive hits… you don’t need NRR, it would’ve made no difference. He told Tilak to go easy, but tried to hit big shots himself. You needed 2 runs off 13 balls, and he smashed a six. I’m sure they want to build a culture that doesn’t care about individual milestones. But even a not-out doesn’t really matter here, even if you were out there, you still had 12 balls there to score 2 runs. Tilak was denied a chance to score a fifty. That’s just my opinion, though,” Chopra said while attacking Hardik Pandya.

Hardik Pandya denied Tilak Varma from scoring consecutive fifty

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Hardik Pandya who was facing the Caribbean bowler, Rovman Powell and slammed a six in the 18th over of the second inning when India needed just two runs from 14 balls, while Tilak Varma was on the other side of the crease at 49 runs.

This sparked a lot of controversy and cricket fans all over social media started to criticize the T20I skipper, Hardik Pandya, and called him selfish.

However, India won the match against West Indies by seven wickets after a stunning run-chasing knock from Suryakumar Yadav who was also named as the Player of the Match.