Pandya’s first international appearance came against Australia after he was selected to the Indian T20I side on the back of an impressive IPL 2015 season. Playing the first of the three-T20I series at Adelaide, the then-22-year-old was brought into the attack with Australia going strong at 63-1 after 7 overs, chasing 189.

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Pandya started off with three consecutive wides, leaking a total of 19 runs in the over. In his second over after being brought back into the attack by then-captain MS Dhoni, he was sent for a humongous six over long-on by Chris Lynn. It was then that he thought his ‘career was over’.

“I conceded 26 runs from my first 8 balls and frankly thought my career was over”, the Pandya said while in conversation with Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz.

“When I was hit for a huge six, almost 105-110m, I thought I was done. I felt it couldn’t get worse than this and thankfully I managed to snare a couple of wickets,” he added.

As it turned out, Pandya would dismiss Lynn and Matthew Wade and finish with 2-37 in three overs as India registered a 37-run victory. He has since become an indispensable part of India’s white-ball unit.