With Virat Kohli taking the lion’s share of the plaudits for his unbeaten 82 against Pakistan on Sunday, Hardik Pandya’s resolute 40 runs off 37 balls has taken somewhat of a backseat. But that did not stop Pandya from basking in the team’s glory and refer to himself as a showman while talking to former coach Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar after the match.
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“I think I am a showman. I will not come everyday but when I come I’ll put on a show. That’s why I messaged my wife and a few closest people and I said, I don’t know, I just had a gut feeling that tonight is gonna be a special night. I messaged the six of them and said, tonight whatever I am going to do, I’ll do for you guys. That about sums it up.”
Hardik was also instrumental with the ball when he returned the figures of 3/30 taking the wickets of Shadab Khan, Haider Ali and Mohammad Nawaz.
In the match, Pakistan recovered from a wobbly start to post a fighting 159 for eight. India completed the chase in the last ball, with Kohli and Pandya doing the bulk of the scoring after a horror start to their innings.
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The two revived India with a 113-run stand for the fourth wicket after they were reeling at 31/4 at one stage.
Sent in to bat, Pakistan were well served by Iftikhar Ahmed’s 34-ball 51 and Shan Masood’s unbeaten 52 off 42 balls after they lost their first two wickets with just 15 runs on the board in the fourth over.
For India, Arshdeep Singh was among the most successful bowlers in the much-awaited match of the tournament, finishing with figures 3/32 in four overs at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.
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If it was not for the 14 runs in the 19th over, Arshdeep would have ended with better figures Playing in his maiden World Cup, left-arm pacer Arshdeep gave India early breakthroughs before Pakistan steadied things with a 76-run partnership for the third wicket.
