India opener Shikhar Dhawan has expressed his delight after Hardik Pandya played yet another sizzling knock in the third One-Day International against Australia.
Team India thrashed the visitors by five wickets in the third match on Sunday (September 24) to seal the outcome of the five-match series in their favour, and Hardik Pandya was once again the architect of the win. Surprisingly sent in to bat at number 4 to negate left-arm spinner Ashton Agar’s threat, Pandya not only did his job with utmost aplomb but also guided the team maturely to take it closer to win before Manish Pandey and MS Dhoni did the rest.
Ladies and gentlemen, here is the man of the moment @hardikpandya7(Also @klrahul11 at the back)???
Great win, series clinched? #NumberOne☝️ pic.twitter.com/umyvk0IW7x— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) September 24, 2017
The right-handed batsman slammed four sixes off Agar en route to his 72-ball 78 runs knock. Before that, he was also instrumental with the ball, giving India the much-needed opening breakthrough by castling David Warner to end the 70-run partnership between the Australian openers.
The win, nevertheless, gave India a 3-0 lead in the series. With the help of the win, India also moved to the top of ICC rankings while Kohli equalled MS Dhoni’s record of most consecutive ODI wins as Indian captain.
Delighted with the performance, Dhawan took to Twitter to hail the show by Virat Kohli & Co. and said he was happy for Pandya.
“Amazing performance by Team India @BCCI. @hardikpandya7 you beauty.. So happy for you. Well played everyone! ????☺️,” tweeted Dhawan.
Amazing performance by Team India @BCCI. @hardikpandya7 you beauty.. So happy for you. Well played everyone! ????☺️
— Shikhar Dhawan (@SDhawan25) September 25, 2017
Meanwhile, the southpaw has not been included in the squad for the remaining two ODIs. He was initially part of the team for the first three games but pulled out at the last moment to stay with his wife who was set for an operation which eventually went well.
By the grace of god, my wife's surgery was successful. She is recovering well. Thank u all for d prayers & blessings. #Waheguruji #Jaimatadi pic.twitter.com/pW0Deuk8u0
— Shikhar Dhawan (@SDhawan25) September 23, 2017
Dhawan is likely to return to the team for the three-match T20I series that will start after the end of the ongoing series.