Hardik Pandya finished the third T20I against the West Indies with a winning six at the Providence Stadium yesterday, August 8. However, it did not exactly go down well with the Indian cricket community.
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Chasing 160 in a must-win game to keep the series alive, Indian openers Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal fell for cheap scores of six and one respectively.
Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma then steadied the innings. ‘SKY’ went on a trademark T20 rampage, scoring 83 off 44 balls and taking India to a position of safety. Tilak, in just his third international game, took stock and played second fiddle, remaining unbeaten on 49 off 37 balls.
Pandya, who had come in at No.5, finished the game off with a six when India needed two off 14 balls. With Tilak unbeaten on 49 at the other end, the decision to finish the game with a big shot meant that the the youngster was stranded one short of a milestone.
The incident gave rise to heated debates on social media. People also brought up several instances from the past where players had blocked a few deliveries to allow their batting partners to reach their milestones towards the closing stages of run-chases.
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One such incident was MS Dhoni’s dead-bat block in the 2014 T20 World Cup semi-final that allowed Virat Kohli to hit the winning runs.
On his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra mentioned how Tilak was robbed of a fifty: “You don’t need NRR (net run rate). It would’ve made no difference. He told Tilak to go easy but tried to hit big shots himself. You needed two 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 two runs. Tilak was denied a chance to score a fifty. That’s just my opinion, though.”
Pandya has been in the firing line for his captaincy for some time. In the second T20I, he had not completed Yuzvendra Chahal’s quota of four overs despite the latter bringing India back in the game. India ended up losing that match and Pandya’s move was widely questioned.
A leader should encourage the youngster by giving him the chance to score his fifty when he’s playing his debut international series. Very bad Hardik Pandya. Also it’s not a World Cup or any other tournament where NRR is important.
— R A T N I S H (@LoyalSachinFan) August 8, 2023
My dad came out of the room and was fuming about the fact that Hardik Pandya denied Tilak Verma a 50
Come on man… Not that it was some match where NRR was into play and there was some hurry to complete the innings
Verma could have created a record. Feeling bad for him
— Vinesh Prabhu (@vlp1994) August 8, 2023
39 in first match.
50 in second match.
49 in third match.Tilak Varma would have easily scored 50 here if Hardik Pandya wouldn’t have hit that six. 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/hHBnVtWV8y
— ANSHUMAN🚩 (@AvengerReturns) August 8, 2023
It shocks me to see how people are reacting to Hardik Pandya finishing the match on his own without giving Tilak Varma the chance to score his fifty! I mean do these milestones still matter, especially a 50 in T20 cricket? Tilak played a top knock and his 49* remains as valuable
— Mohsin Kamal (@64MohsinKamal) August 9, 2023
Over to you Virat ❤️❤️ #selfish #HardikPandya pic.twitter.com/1f81TAFs90
— Himanshu Tiwari (@himansh_singer) August 8, 2023
RCB needed 2 or 3 runs and gayle was on 98* Virat Kohli blocked the last ball so that gayle could score his first IPL Hundred
Hardik pandya should learn from Virat Kohli pic.twitter.com/JyVuc89MiM
— Kevin (@imkevin149) August 8, 2023
Ashwin was Right when he said that at present, the teammates in Indian Cricket Team are just like colleagues…. in competition to one another. #HardikPandya today proved that point.#WIvsIND #TilakVarma pic.twitter.com/WNy9bDUAIk
— Bhuvanesh Sharma (@bhuvanhere) August 8, 2023
People underestimate a difference in 49 and 50.
In 2035, Tilak Varma fans would need this fifty in fanwars.
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) August 8, 2023
Hardik didn’t let Chahal complete his 4 overs in the last match and Tilak Varma his fifty in this match. Great strategy to keep players hungry. 🔥
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) August 8, 2023
As a captain, you want someone who looks at the convenience of the other players who are looking to make their mark, than the convenience of his performance himself. You want to bowl ahead of specialist pacers when conditions are favourable, and you want to bat when the game is
— Gurkirat Singh Gill (@gurkiratsgill) August 8, 2023
