India v Australia, 1st ODI, CT Player of the Match - Hardik Pandya

In an afternoon at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, the fans were contemplating the reason for an utter batting collapse from Virat Kohli‘s men. Fast forward a few hours into the night, the fans can’t praise Hardik Pandya enough for his performance extraordinaire, both with the bat and the ball. It has been such a day, where the Indian team came from 87/5 to win the game quite comfortably.

Winning the toss, Kohli decided to bat first as the jam-packed stadium was rooting for a great Indian display. But what they got was completely the opposite, as Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Manish Pandey failed to face the Australian blizzard. That called for something special and former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni delivered it for the Men in Blue time and again. But he needed support from someone, which he got from Pandya and how? For his unparalleled contribution in all three aspects of the game, there cannot be any debate over our decision to give him the tag of ‘CT Player of the Match’.

Known for his ‘happy go lucky’ aura, the Indian team needed the man from Choryasi, Gujarat to show a lot more maturity than he usually does. While he had the privilege of availing Dhoni’s advice anytime he needed, but credit must be given to the lad for how he paced his innings. At 87/5, there was only one escape route from the maze and that was via a partnership.

Paced his innings perfectly

Pandya began slowly yet steadily and started forming a partnership with Dhoni. Another contrasting part of his innings at this match was, unlike his usual attitude, he didn’t get carried away after hitting a boundary. One may not believe that the lad which came to India’s rescue is a 23-year-old who has not even played 25 ODIs, but that was how Pandya carried out his modus operandi today (September 17).

From rotating the strike with singles to dispatching the bad deliveries for the treatment they deserve, Pandya had been brilliant in everything. But then there came the time to score some runs and Dhoni wanted him to push the accelerator. He obliged in fashion, with a four and three maximums in a row. Adam Zampa was the unlucky person to be at the receiving end of three back to back sixes.

Then again, he shifted gears and rested for a few balls, before accelerating again. While James Faulkner and Marcus Stoinis also received some share of the onslaught, the maximum damage was done against Zampa, as Pandya sent the ball into the stand to complete the 100-run match-winning partnership. While Dhoni’s 79 might be a reason for the fans to go ga-ga, Pandya is the man who set the game for India.

By the time he was dismissed in the 41st over after he scored 83 runs, the stage was already established for one of the best finishers in the world Dhoni and his new partner Bhuvneshwar Kumar and they took the team to 281/7, and the rain gods had enough action and called for some rain. The game was curtailed to 21 overs, from which Australia needed 164.

Brilliant with the ball as well

But ‘Kung fu Pandya’s job wasn’t over, and he needed to prove why he is a complete all-rounder and falls in a league of his own. If you were an Aussie loyalist, your safe bet for the chase would be skipper Steve Smith, but that man was sent back by Pandya. Smith top-edged the very next delivery after surviving a scare courtesy umpire Marais Erasmus and was brilliantly caught by Jasprit Bumrah.

It was 20/2 and India needed just one more quick wicket to cement their place in the driver’s seat. It was Travis Head’s turn now, who swung his bat at an outside-off delivery but couldn’t make a significant contribution. After taking the edge, the ball landed in the safest pair of gloves around. This way, Australia were down to 29/3, a wound so deep that from it they never could properly recover.

Hardik finished the game with 83 and figures of 2/28 in his 4 overs, he was also awarded the Man of the Match for his performance and is also the CT Player of the Match.