Twitter Reaction
Twitterati Erupts As Hardik Come In For 3rd ODI And Dhoni Goes Out
By CricShots - Jan 28, 2019 8:10 am
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After taking a 2-0 lead in the ongoing 5-match series against New Zealand, Team India is looking to take an unassailable 3-0 lead at the Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui. They defeated the hosts by 7 wickets and 90 runs in the first two ODIs. In the third game, the Kiwi skipper, Kane Williamson decided to bat after winning the toss. However, the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli made two changes in the quad as MS Dhoni and Vijay Shankar made way for Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya. 

pandya
Hardik Pandya ignoring fans

While Dhoni exclusion was forced as he suffering from a hamstring strain, Hardik’s inclusion was by choice as after getting free from the suspension, he was available for the solution. On the other hand, the hosts also made a change in their squad as Mitchell Santner replaced Colin de Grandhomme. 

Pandya hasn’t played an international game since the final group stage match against Pakistan at Dubai (DSC) in the Asia Cup 2018 on 19 September 2018. During that game, Pandya suffered an acute back injury when he was bowling and soon he had to leave the ground on a stretcher.

ALSO READ: Hardik Hit A Thousand Balls In Australia After Suspension

After the great all-around performances in his domestic cricket return after recovering from the injury, Pandya returned to the national squad for the last two Tests of the four-match Test series in Australia but he wasn’t selected in the playing XI.

Dhoni
MS Dhoni

Later, he entered the controversy after his sexist comments in the popular Indian talk show “Koffee with Karan”. Though Pandya was in the ODI squad of that tour and he was expected to be selected in playing XI during that series, he was suspended along with KL Rahul for their inappropriate comments in that talk show. Recently, his suspension has been lifted and he has been returned to the Indian squad for the ongoing limited-overs tour in New Zealand.

Playing XIs of both the teams: 

India: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wk), Henry Nicholls, Doug Bracewell, Trent Boult, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson.

Here are some of the reactions of fans on Twitter over the selections:

https://twitter.com/KapilGarcha/status/1089713271777615872

https://twitter.com/midwickett/status/1089713077078147073

https://twitter.com/HelicopterShot6/status/1089712860547203072

https://twitter.com/Abhijit_19/status/1089711844200071168