It was a Hardik Pandya show on Southampton as Indian cricket team won the first of the scheduled 3 match T20I series by a good margin of 50 runs and it was Pandya who was a star in both the innings.
Indian team suffered a forgetful defeat in the 5th and the final match of the Test series against England to end the series in a 2-2 draw after the first match had ended in a draw.
It was time for the Men in Blue to take revenge and what a performance it was from them. Batting first after winning the toss, Rohit Sharma gave India a great start where India scored with over 10 runs per over for almost 8 overs.
Though India lost 2 wickets in the powerplay, they displayed attacking instinct. Rohit Sharma scored 24 runs while Deepak Hooda displayed his attacking abilities hitting Moeen Ali for a back-to-back boundaries.
But, even though India were playing with attacking mindset, they kept on losing wickets at the crucial times and that brought in Hardik Pandya to the crease at just 11.5 overs.
Hardik though had a great outing with the bat, scoring 51 runs from 33 balls to help India post a target of 199 runs. However, his performance with the ball was the most notable one. Pandya took 4 wickets with the ball in his 4 overs and gave away 33 runs.
His performance caught the attention of critics and the Twitterati as they heaped praise on the Indian all-rounder for his performance.
IPL winning captain.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) July 7, 2022
Lead series victory in Ireland.
Man of the match award in England.
Hardik Pandya continues his dream phase in T20 format. pic.twitter.com/Zm0jJq7u1Q
Hardik Pandya becomes the first Indian to score 50+ runs and take 4+ wickets in a T20I match.
— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) July 7, 2022
👊🏏 PAPA PANDYA SUPREMACY! Hardik Pandya becomes the first Indian to score a fifty and pick up a 4-fer in the same T20I game.
— The Bharat Army (@thebharatarmy) July 7, 2022
📷 Getty • #INDvENG #ENGvIND #HardikPandya #TeamIndia #BharatArmy pic.twitter.com/p7Wnw8LaVx
Hardik Pandya is having a ball. And the bat! What a night for him and possibly India too @hardikpandya7 #INDvENG
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) July 7, 2022
The Hardik Pandya aggression 🔥 pic.twitter.com/nA9inexHz3
— Utkarsh / Cricket is love ❤ (@cricketfan__) July 7, 2022
Hardik Pandya, just absolute box office. What a cricketer he has become.
— Peter Miller (@TheCricketGeek) July 7, 2022
