Hardik Pandya’s match-winning six against West Indies in the third T20 at Guyana has raised many questions and eyebrows about his selfishness. Right from celebrities to X (Formerly Twitter) platform users have criticized the selfish behavior of Hardik Pandya that he denied a newcomer player Tilak Verma, his second consecutive 50.
This is not the first instance of a captain taking away the center stage and keeping the unbeaten player short of a milestone. Hardik Pandya’s incident brought to light a similar kind of incident which happened way back in 2004. Back in the day, current team India coach Rahul Dravid led the Indian team against Pakistan on its soil. India was on the brink of winning its first test match on Pakistani soil.
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Hardik Pandya Incident Brings Memory of Sachin’s 194 not out
India was 675/5 on Day 2 vs Pakistan in Multan on March 29, 2004, and was way ahead in the match. Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar was batting on 194, Virender Sehwag had earlier made a brilliant 309 and it seemed like Dravid would declare as soon as Sachin reached his 200, but all hopes were lost when Dravid declared the Indian innings cutting short Sachin’s innings at 194.
Sachin was not out at 194 and was upset, however, Sachin, who is known for being a team player moved forward and forgot the incident. India went on to win its first test match in Pakistan and also its first test series.
Hardik Pandya might have his reasons as his captainship has been under scrutiny. India has won their first T20 matches against the West Indies and is on the brink of losing a series against the Caribbean team after a year. Hence, Hardik Pandya wanted to give a statement that he must not be taken lightly, however, his answer went down the drain, as Tilak Verma, who is having a dream debut series, was left stranded at 49.
West Indies lead the 5-match T20 series 2-1 against India with the fourth T20 scheduled to be held on August 12 in Lauderhill, Florida.
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