'Not MS Dhoni' - Hardik Pandya trolled by fans after leaving Tilak Varma stranded on 49 against West Indies

Ritabrata Banerjee

'Not MS Dhoni' - Hardik Pandya trolled by fans after leaving Tilak Varma stranded on 49 against West Indies image

India got back to winning ways as they beat West Indies by seven wickets in the third match of the ongoing T20I series.

Batting first West Indies managed to put up a total of 159 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in 20 overs. The visitors chased down the total in 17.5 overs with Mumbai Indians duo Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma delivering with their bat.

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While Yadav scored a fiery 83 off just 44 balls, Varma remained not out on 49 off 37 deliveries. Captain Hardik Pandya played a cameo in the end as he scored 20 off 15 balls.

Why was Hardik Pandya trolled despite hitting the winning runs?

Despite sealing the victory by hitting a six of Rovman Powell in the second delivery of the 18th over, Pandya was trolled by fans for not allowing Varma to complete his second consecutive half-century in T20Is.

India still had 14 balls to go in the innings and just two runs left in their chase when Pandya hit the six. Fans felt that the captain could have allowed Varma to his the winning and complete his 50 instead going for the glory himself.

His action was also compared to that of former Indian captain MS Dhoni who is known for being selfless on the pitch.

In a similar situation during the 2014 T20 World Cup semi-final against South Africa, Dhoni had an opportunity to hit the winning runs with seven balls to go in the innings. But he instead played a dot ball and gave the platform to a much younger Virat Kohli to hit the winning runs. Kohli had scored 72 off 44 balls to help India chase down 173.

Dhoni Pandya
BCCI/Sportzpics

Interestingly, Pandya has in the past spoken about his admiration for MS Dhoni and during IPL 2023, many pundits and fans had compared Pandya's demeanour on the field to Dhoni. However, fans seem to disagree after the third T20I.

What next for the Indian cricket team?

India will be next seen in action against West Indies in the fourth T20I on August 12.

Ritabrata Banerjee

Ritabrata Banerjee  Photo

Ritabrata Banerjee is a content producer for The Sporting News' India edition.