Revealed: What Hardik Pandya told Mushfiqur Rahim during the WT20 match
Apr 17, 2016 at 3:47 PM
Hardik Pandya, the bowler who bowled the last over against Bangladesh, revealed what he said to Mushfiqur Rahim when the later was celebrating even before winning the match.
India have won the match by two runs as Bangladesh failed to score two runs from the last three balls. The match at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore was a must win game for India to keep their WT20 hope alive.
Batting first India scored 146. Bangladesh got off good start they were at the brink of victory but a couple of wickets fall in crucial time made their job difficult as they needed to score 11 runs from the last over. They need to score two runs from the last three. Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah tried to clobber a six but caught by Shikhar Dhawan while Ravindra Jadeja respectively.
These two batsmen’s departure in the crucial time left Bangladesh in a dangerous situation. In the last ball when Musfiqur Rahim tried to take a single to draw the match but MS Dhoni run him out that earned a victory against Bangladesh.
Hardik Pandya was asked about his dramatic last over and what did Dhoni tell him?
“Dhoni told me to just enjoy the moment and bowl without any pressure.” He then made a mockery of Mushfiqur Rahim, who was happy to see India’s defeat against West Indies in the semifinal at Wankhede. Pandya said,“ See, I knew that Mushfiqur Rahim doesn’t have the ability to clobber a six off me. He might hit me for a boundary, which he did, but tonking sixes is beyond him.
Pandya also told him that match is still not over. “When he celebrated prematurely after hitting me for a couple of boundaries, I told him that the match is not over and he might muck it all up. They still needed 2 runs to win. Both Rahim and Mahmudullah went for glory shots and threw their wickets away.
Bangladesh’s defeat proved that they are inexperienced. Any sensible cricketer would have sealed the match but they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
When asked what he thinks about Yorker bowling. People criticized him saying that he can’t bowl Yorker. Hardik Pandya replied, “It is not necessary to bowl yorkers all the time to contain batsmen. It really depends on the situation of the match and the batsmen you are bowling to. However, I do concede that I need to improve a lot as a bowler. There are many things I wish to glean and induct in my arsenal. The yorker is definitely one of them.”
He also said he wants to be an allrounder like Jacques Kallis of South Africa. But whom he praised most during his childhood days. He said, “I think Irfan Pathan has been a terrific all-rounder for India in the last 10 years especially in limited-overs cricket. But Jacques Kallis is one allrounder I absolutely admire and idolise. I want to be the Jacques Kallis of India. He is a legend and the best all-rounder the world has ever seen.”