Hardik Pandya, star all-rounder of Team India. The last few months have been a struggle for Hardik. Hardik was handed the captaincy in place of Rohit Sharma for the 17th season of IPL. Hardik was trolled a lot. Hardik was criticized a lot for not being able to leave his mark as a captain. After this, Hardik had a fight with his wife Natasha and there was talk that the two would separate. Therefore, the last few months were very difficult and testing for Hardik. But Hardik did not let it affect his performance at all. Hardik proved this in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 tournament. Hardik performed strongly with batting and bowling throughout the tournament. Hardik scored 144 runs and took 11 wickets in this tournament. After Team India won the T20 World Cup under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, Hardik remembered the 2023 World Cup final and expressed his pain.
What did Hardik say?
This is an emotional moment and the whole country was expecting it. After six months, something special happened and I did not say a word to anyone. Some things are not right. But I was confident that our time will definitely come. We remained calm and believed in ourselves. He also did not let the pressure get to him. In the last over, I knew to stick to the plan. My run-up speed had increased due to pressure. But this happens under pressure”, Hardik said.
Briefly about the match
Meanwhile, in the final match against South Africa, Team India scored 76 runs and Virat Kohli scored 47 runs. With this rhythm, Team India scored 176 runs in 20 overs by losing 7 wickets. In reply, South Africa scored 52 runs in 27 balls with the help of 2 fours and 5 sixes by Heinrich Klaasen. But Hardik Pandya hunted Klaasen at a crucial moment. Therefore, Team India stopped South Africa at 169 runs for 8 wickets in 20 overs and Team India won the match by 7 runs. Hardik Pandya took the maximum of 3 wickets from Team India.
South Africa Playing XI: Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Reeza Hendricks, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrique Norkhia and Tabraiz Shamsi.
Team India’s playing XI: Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dubey, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah.
