First Tilak Varna, now Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya's six crushed Gill's hopes of bringing up a hundred versus England
Team India, under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, started off the three-match ODI series versus England in a great way, overcoming the visitors in the opening match by a margin of 4 wickets. The heroes of the victory were Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill. Iyer played an explosive knock of 59 runs in 36 deliveries while Gill played a magnificent inning of 87 runs in 96 deliveries.
While the latter played a good knock, he missed out on his century by 13 funs and he surely felt the pain of missing out on a well-deserved ton. The 25-year-old got out on the short-pitched delivery of Saqib Mahmood, but it won't be incorrect to say that the pressure on him was created by Hardik Pandya.
Junior Pandya hit a good six and while it may be a good thing for the team, it turned to be bittersweet for the newly appointed ODI vice-captain Gill as it spoiled his route of bringing up a deserving 7th One-Day International century.
How did Hardik spoil the game?
Young Shubman Gill had settled down at the crease in a perfect manner in Nagpur and while wickets were constantly falling from one end, he maintained his composure and batted in a clean and amazing way. He stitched good partnerships with Axar Patel & Shreyas Iyer and also completed his half-century.
Slowly and steadily, he came close to completing his hundred. In the 36th over of the match, the 25-year-old was 17 runs away from his hundred and the Men in Blue needed 24 runs to secure the victory. But in that very over, KL Rahul got dismissed and Hardik Pandya walked out to bat at the crease.
He played the first delivery as a dot ball but hit the very next ball for a maximum. With this six, the Indians needed 18 runs to secure the win and Shubman needed 17 runs to complete his hundred.
Gill came under pressure
If Hardik had taken a single instead of hitting the ball for a six, the Shubman could have brought up his 7th ODI hundred slowly & steadily without feeling the pressure. But, Junior Pandya's six created pressure on the youngster.
The 25-year-old came on strike in the 37th over and reached the score of 87 runs by hitting a boundary. In a hurry to bring up his ton, he tried to hit the second ball of the over of pacer Saqib Mahmood for a maximum with the help of a pull shot, but he got caught by the fielder on the boundary.
Following the dismissal of the 25-year-old, Pandya patted his bat and acknowledged his innings but the disappointment on Gill's face was clearly visible. He played a knock of 87 runs in the match with the help of 14 fours.
Tilak Varma's chance of getting a fifty has been spoilt before by Hardik
This is not the first time that Hardik Pandya's six has kept a player away from achieving a milestone. Earlier this happened with Tilak Verma when Hardik had to face a lot of trolling. In 2023, Tilak Verma missed his fifty by just 1 run as Hardik ended the game by hitting a six. That day too, if Hardik wanted, he could have let the youngster bring up his fifty by taking a single but instead, he hit the ball for a six.
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