IND vs PAK: "Diwali Has Come Early": Sunil Gavaskar Is Impressed By Hardik Pandya's And Virat Kohli's Fireworks Against Pakistan

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.