Hardik Pandya, the IPL 2022 winning captain for the Gujarat Titans, made a stellar return for the Men in Blue as they locked horns against South Africa in the first of five T20Is against South Africa in Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Thursday, June 9.
Coming out to bat first, the batting performances of Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, and Rishabh Pant, stole the show in the first innings. However, team India failed to restrict the visitors from chasing the total runs and were defeated by 7 wickets.
Ishan Kishan played a sensational knock-in national color, while Hardik Pandya also produced a stunning cameo as team India notched up an intimidating 211 for 4 in the first innings. Though Ishan struggled initially but he soon found his groove and went on to score 76 off 48 balls, helping India go past 100 before the first 10 overs.
Hardik Pandya Refused A Single To DK
Hardik Pandya, who had walked in to bat at the fall of Shreyas Iyer’s wicket in the 17th over, breathed fire as he smashed the Proteas bowlers to all the corners of the ground during his knock. He smashed a flurry of boundaries including an effortless six in the last over against Anrich Nortje.
However, during his knock, Pandya refused to take a single on the penultimate ball with in-form Dinesh Karthik at the non-striker’s end. His act has not gone down well with the fans, who are now trolling him left, right, and center on Twitter.
Check out the reactions of fans to this:
Everyone loves Dinesh Karthik except Hardik Pandya.
Hardik Denied a single on second last ball and disrespect DK.#INDvsSA pic.twitter.com/irUU5vgB9I
— Hitman
(@Hitman_views) June 9, 2022
(@Hitman_views) Hardik Pandya really have an bad attitude when that 19.5 over why he not take single when Dinesh Karthik on another side
— I’m Gyanesh (@imreal_Ganesh77) June 9, 2022
Hardik Pandya denied single by not trusting DK for the last ball of the match. And took 2 runs for the last ball.
Ego!#INDvSA
— idlebrain jeevi (@idlebrainjeevi) June 9, 2022
Why hardik pandya refused for single
In non striker end #DineshKarthik is there
Over confidence Hardik
Change ur attitude#INDvSA— Kiran (@ShivaKi44640313) June 9, 2022
Hardik Pandya refused to take a single on the penultimate ball of the 20th over even when Dinesh Karthik was the at the other end. Wooooo!
— Aritra Mukherjee (@aritram029) June 9, 2022
Hardik Pandya not taking single on second last ball was okay as he was set and hitting the ball well
No issues with that and I would rather prefer to appreciate him for his good knock then hating him for not taking thst single.— Cricket
.
Lover // Bumrah is GOAT (@CricCrazyV) Hardik Pandya is a good hitter, I get it. But denying single to DK at the other end is just ridiculous..hardik you might be in top form but that’s way too much arrogance and cockiness.
— iValue_Investor (@ivalue_investor) June 9, 2022
Now that is some attitude, refusing DK a single on the penultimate ball.
Well, that’s Hardik Pandya for you.
— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) June 9, 2022
Ridiculous of Hardik Pandya to not take a single of the penultimate ball of the innings, the batsman at the other end was not No. 10 or No. 11, he was DK.#INDvsSA
— Vipul Ghatol
(@Vipul_Espeaks) Hardik Pandya just fueled the fire by refusing that single.
— Raj Shikhar (@VihanSrivastav2) June 9, 2022
Ashish Nehra Trolled Pandya
In another news, former Indian cricketer and Gujarat Titans head-coach Ashish Nehra trolled Hardik for refusing a single to DK. “He should have taken a single before the last ball. It was Dinesh Karthik at the other end, not me,” quipped Nehra on Cricbuzz.
Talking about his performance, Hardik Pandya played a quick-fire role and helped team India register a humongous score against the Proteas. He formed an amazing partnership with stand-in captain Rishabh Pant and the duo launched barrages of attacks on the visitors. He remained unbeaten on 31 runs and returned to the pavilion at the innings break with an amazing strike rate of 258.
