India’s stand-in skipper Hardik Pandya was in great form with the bat in India’s 3rd ODI against West Indies at the Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba in Trinidad. With the series poisted at 1-1, this was a must-win game for the Men in Blue. However, the Indian team management decided to stick with their approach of giving a chance to some of the other players by handing captain Rohit Sharma and senior batter Virat Kohli a rest. Both of them had even missed out on the second ODI where again Hardik was at the helm of affairs but the ploy had backfired with the visitors losing the match by 6 wickets.
In the series decider though, the Indian team was back to its dominant best. Shubman Gill was the top-scorer for the touring side as he scored 85. He along with Ishan Kishan (77) laid a soild foundation for Team India with Kishan scoring his third back-to-back fifty of the series. But it was really the knocks from Sanju Samson (51) and captain Hardik that provided the innings the impetus needed to go past 351.
Also Read | ‘Don’t Want Luxury’: Hardik Pandya Slams West Indies Cricket Board For Not Making ‘Basic Arrangements’ For Team India
Hardik remained unbeaten on 70 off 51 balls as India posted 351/5 before bowling the opposition out for 151. Shardul Thakur and Mukesh Kumar were the wreckers-in-chief as they picked 7 wickets between them. Shardul scalped 4/37 while Mukesh returned with figures of 3/30 as India completed a comprehensive 200-run win. Post the match, Hardik credited Virat Kohl for his knock and revealed the pep talk that Kohli gave him which helped him do well in the series decider.
“Virat and Rohit are a very integral part of the team. And, you know, obviously, this was very important for someone like Rutu to get a game or Axar to get a game because they’ve been playing cricket for so many years, they know how exactly all these situations have been. So kind of giving them the youngsters exposure and kind of making sure that if we want to check something, we have the opportunity to do it,” Hardik said after the game.
“I had a very wonderful chat with Virat a couple of days back, and the kind of input he gave me, he has seen me throughout the years. It’s been almost seven or eight years of international cricket and he has seen me from day one. He had some pointers which really helped me. He just wanted me to spend some time on the crease and get used to the 50 or game as well because we have played so many T20 formats and yeah, that kind of stayed in my mind and I was just waiting for the opportunity. I’m really thankful to him as well to kind of share that experience with me,” he revealed.
Hardik Pandya-led India will now lock horns with West Indies in a 5-match T20I series commencing on August 3 (Thursday).
