Dinesh Karthik, the former India cricketer, has lavished rich praise on Hardik Pandya for his amazing performance with the bat and the ball in India’s recent T20 World Cup 2024 victory in the Caribbean and the USA.
India defeated South Africa in the final of the tournament in Barbados on June 29. Batting first India had posted 176/6 in 20 overs with Virat Kohli top-scoring with 76 runs. Axar Patel made 47 and Shivam Dube scored 31 runs to propel India to a decent score after they had lost 3 early wickets.
In response, South Africa was cruising at one point with Quinton de Kock and Heinrich Klaasen at the crease and David Miller to come and they needed 30 to win in 30 balls.
However, India pacers Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, and Hardik Pandya choked the Proteas batters with amazing bowling. Needing 16 runs in the last 6 balls, Hardik Pandya dismissed David Miller on the first ball with Suryakumar Yadav taking the catch of the tournament at long off boundary.
I’m happiest for him: Dinesh Karthik lauds Hardik Pandya’s performance in T20 World Cup
The star for India proved to be Hardik Pandya, as he defended 16 runs successfully and India won the game by 7 runs in the end. India became two-time T20 World Cup champions and Hardik Pandya played a huge role in India’s undefeated campaign.
He picked 11 wickets in all and scored 144 runs including one fifty at a strike rate of over 154 with the bat.
This was sort of a redemption for Hardik Pandya, as he had endured boos and jeers during the IPL 2024 from not only other fans but Mumbai Indians fans in Mumbai itself. It was because Pandya had moved from Gujarat Titans to MI and replaced five-time title-winning Captain Rohit Sharma as the new skipper of the team.
Combined this with some unsavory moments on the field between Rohit and Hardik during the IPL 2024, and MI finishing at the bottom of the points table, Pandya was slammed by fans and experts.
Meanwhile, answering questions on Cricbuzz, Dinesh Karthik was praiseful of Hardik Pandya and lauded his performance for India in the T20 World Cup.
“From Hardik facing backlash nationwide during IPL to the entire country supporting him when he bowled the 20th over. A fairytale, movie-like comeback. They say certain scripts are written in the stars and for Hardik, the last four months have been hard. Really hard, I feel for him. But that last over and this whole tournament, his contribution with the bat, he showed at different points of time why he is an asset to this side with the ball.
Always a good fielder, but most importantly, on that big day, when it mattered the most, he delivered that last over who is ever going to forget a droid’s kiss to Harvick Pandya post his interview? Such emotional moments. It’s been great to see what he’s done in this tournament. I’m the happiest for him. I think he deserves it. He’s worked very hard for this. And I don’t think it was fair that he could lose now,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.