It was Hardik Pandya’s brilliant performance through which India clinched a remarkable victory against Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2022. The game was played on Sunday, August 28 and the game was full of thrills as India won it with 2 balls to spare.
India needed over 50 runs in the final 5 overs of the game and with Pandya and Jadeja at the crease India did not lose the hope of winning the game. Before getting out, Jadeja scored the crucial 35 runs. However the finishing touch came from Hardik where he smashed a six against Mohammad Nawaz to win the game for India.
While talking to Jadeja about the finishing with the six, Pandya said,”Saath run mujhe kuch jyada badhe lag nahi rahe they, kyunki left arm spinner hain. Aur paanch fielder hain ussey mujhe kuch farak nahi padh raha tha. Kyunki agar dus fielder hote, dus fielder bahar hote, mereko toh maarna hi tha. (Seven runs didn’t look like a mountain to me because a left arm spinner was on. And Pakistan had five fielders on the fence, but even if they had ten, or ten outside, I would have definitely hit a six).”
Hardik Pandya also mentioned that single moment where he got emotional. He stated that when his partner Jadeja got out by Nawaz, he evolved with emotions.
Pandya said, “Pure inning maine ek hi baar emotion dikhaya, jab aap out huye. Par generally bataun toh pressure nahi tha. Mere hisab se usko zyada pressure tha, main woh count kar raha tha ki woh ek mistake karein. (I only showed emotions once throughout the inning, when you were dismissed. But in general I was under no pressure, in fact I felt the bowler was under pressure, so I was waiting for an opportunity where he made a mistake.)
He further added,”Kyunki aap pressure ko jis tareeke se handle karein uss hisab se aap execution kar sakte hain. Mujhe pata tha jis tareeke se usne fielder ko idhar kiye, mujhe pata tha woh back of length mein jayega hi. (The way you handle the pressure, is the way you execute stuff. I knew the way he set the field he would bowl me a back of a length delivery).”
