IND vs PAK: "Diwali Has Come Early": Sunil Gavaskar Is Impressed By Hardik Pandya's And Virat Kohli's Fireworks Against Pakistan
Published - 24 Oct 2022, 04:16 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:14 AM
In India’s four-wicket victory over Babar Azam’s Pakistan on Sunday, October 23, at the Melbourne Cricket Stadium, legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar praised Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya for their brilliant performances under pressure.
While Virat received the Player of the Match award for his undefeated 82-run knock in the Super 12 game, Pandya only managed 40 runs off of 37 balls before being dismissed by Mohammad Nawaz.
After India lost four early wickets while chasing 160, Kohli and Hardik put on a 113-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
“The game has reached the final over if anything finishes in the final ball of the 40th over. Everyone who is watching the game on television or in person has received their paisa vasool.”
Gavaskar was cited in India Today as stating, “Some of the firecrackers that we saw on the ground from Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya’s bat meant that Diwali has come earlier.”
“Virat Kohli wasn’t out of form by any possibility”: Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar also believed that Kohli wasn’t in the least bit out of shape. The seasoned player compared Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic to Kohli.
“He wasn’t scoring runs; he was scoring hundreds. When he doesn’t reach the high bar he has set of scoring hundreds of runs, many claims he isn’t scoring runs. Every batter experiences failures now and then adding that he was getting 60s and 70s” Sunil Gavaskar said.
“The point is when Federer, Djokovic, and Nadal don’t win semi-finals, finals, people think that they didn’t do well. When Tiger Woods was in form, when he finished second or third, people said he didn’t do well.”
“Anybody would be happy to get those 70s and 80s. These are the standards great players set and that’s why we think that they are not at their best,” Sunil Gavaskar added.
On Thursday, October 23, India will face Scott Edwards’ Netherlands at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Also Read: IND vs PAK: “They Will Panic If I Take Haris Rauf Down”: Virat Kohli Reveals Strategy In Death Overs
