Yesterday’s match against England was something most Indian cricket fans would want to forget as India suffered a loss against the Three Lions at Rajkot. Many analysts have blamed Hardik Pandya for this loss as the pundits believe that Hardik wasted many crucial balls during the match.
What is the issue?
The match between India and England was a disappointing match for all Indian fans as India lost to England by 26 runs. Overall it was a poor performance from the Indian team but all the blame has now been put on the all-rounder, Hardik Pandya as even though he was the top scorer for India in that match scoring a total of 40 runs in 35 balls, still many pundits are claiming Hardik Pandya to be the reason for them losing the match as he wasted around 20-25 bowls during the match.
Info about the India vs England series:
Many might be wondering what is this cricket series after all. Basically, it is a series that will be preparing both the countries, India and England for the Upcoming Champions Trophy that will be held in Pakistan and Dubai. In this series, The English team would be visiting India for a total of 5 T20 matches.
Parthiv Patel’s Comments on Hardik:
After the match here’s what Parthiv Patel had to state in the post-match interview:
“If you don’t want to play the big shots that’s completely your choice but you can’t waste 3 or 4 balls in a row as it can completely destroy the rhythm of the game.”
These statements have led to widespread anger as many fans stand with Parthiv Patel for his bold comments.
Others believe that Hardik Pandya was trying to make the game more stable as team India was losing its wickets at a fast pace.
Is This really Hardik Pandya’s fault?
If we talk about the statistics, it wasn’t only Hardik’s fault as no batter performed exceptionally in the match. Yes, Hardik wasted a lot of balls but it was only because of him that Team India even had a chance to chase England’s score of 171.
While this was not a series-deciding match, India is still leading with the score of 2-1 but still, this match has pointed out the weakness of the Indian team and has also proved that sometimes Team India can collapse under pressure.
Squad for the Champions Trophy:
As the Champions Trophy is about to start soon, here is the /squad for the Champions Trophy:
Rohit Sharma ( captain)
Shubhman Gill (Vice-Captain)
Virat Kohli
Shreyas Iyer
K.L Rahul
Hardik Pandya
Axar Patel
Washington Sunder
Kuldeep Yadav
Jasprit Bumrah
Mohd. Shami
Arshdeep Singh
Yashasvi Jaiswal
Rishabh Pant
Ravindra Jadeja
What are your views on this controversy, state it down in the comments