India’s all-rounder Hardik Pandya played a blistering knock of 83 runs in the first ODI of the ongoing 5-match series against Australia. He came in to bat when India were in a spot of bother after losing 5 wickets and he formed a match-winning partnership with MS Dhoni.
Pandya’s swashbuckling innings was well complemented by a responsible 79 from one of India’s best ODI batsmen ever, MS Dhoni. Both batted with a lot of responsibility and kept the scoreboard ticking. MS Dhoni batted in his usual style and absorbed all the pressure from one end. Hardik, on the hand, took 20 odd balls to get his eye in and then started playing brilliant counter-attacking cricket.
Pandya attacked Australia’s leg spinner Adam Zampa and changed the momentum of the game in a matter of just balls. Pandya enjoys batting against spinners and after he got his eye in, he targeted Zampa and smashed 3 consecutive sixes in his 8th over and shifted the momentum in India’s favour.
However, during the innings, fans on social made an observation that Hardik Pandya was wearing Mumbai Indians’ gloves. It is uncommon as cricketers don’t usually wear their IPL gears in international cricket.
https://twitter.com/its_tabrez_4u/status/909363999325556736
https://twitter.com/KunalHasArrived/status/909380083768549377
Pandya wearing @mipaltan gloves. Dhoni back in Chepauk. Both playing for @BCCI. Unity in diversity. @IPL for the win. ?#INDvAUS
— Chennai Super Kings – Mask P?du Whistle P?du! (@ChennaiIPL) September 17, 2017
Why Hardik Pandya was wearing Mumbai Indians’ gloves in the first ODI against Australia?
Pandya has time and again said that his life changed for good after joining Mumbai Indians. His raw talent was exposed to the world for the first time a big stage, when the Baroda all-rounder played blistering innings for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. It was only after his successful season with Mumbai Indians that he came into limelight and soon made international debut for India.
Hardik Pandya believes that Mumbai Indians is his lucky charm and this is why he was carrying those gloves in the first ODI. Some fans on social media trolled Pandya for this, but we see nothing wrong in this. Over the years, we have heard many stories of superstition in cricket and this is probably one of those.
“At Mumbai Indians, they just wanted me to enjoy my game and I was just a young kid expressing himself, and who eventually got success. I was getting used to the fame. No one knew who Hardik Pandya was before 2015 IPL. I got picked for Rs 10 lakh. If people knew me I would have got a lot more money, not that it’s only about the money. I was from a struggling family. Well, we had a good family and then things changed, father’s health and all had a grave effect. That helped us. Where we are standing now is because of that situation. It is because how we coped with that,” Pandya had said in an interview to Indian Express.
