Former Indian skipper, Virat Kohli showered praises on teammates Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant for their match-winning partnership, which helped the team win the ODI series against England on Sunday. Pandya and Pant made a brilliant partnership of 133 runs for the fifth wicket after India suffered an early collapse while chasing 260 runs.
Pandya lost his wicket after scoring 71 runs off the bowling of Brydon Carse, but Pant carried on to register his maiden ODI century before helping India to get over the line with more than 7 overs to go. “Brilliant run chase and a great series win,” Kohli tweeted.
Brilliant run chase and a great series win. 🇮🇳🏆 pic.twitter.com/Mcu2KSxct6
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) July 17, 2022
Former England skipper, Michael Vaughan heaped praise on Rishabh Pant, saying the Indian wicketkeeper-batter is “incredibly entertaining but also very smart”. “What a cricketer Rishabh Pant is .. Incredibly entertaining but also very smart,” Vaughan tweeted.
What a cricketer @RishabhPant17 is .. Incredibly entertaining but also very smart .. #ENGvIND
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) July 17, 2022
Rishabh Pant finished the game with an unbeaten knock of 125 runs off 113 balls. The southpaw’s knock was studded with 16 boundaries and two maximums. He also became the fourth Indian wicket-keeper to score an ODI century after MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, and KL Rahul.
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Pandya also took a four-wicket haul which helped India bundle out England for 259 inside 46 overs. On the back of his heroics, Pandya joined the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, and K Srikkanth in an elite ODI list as he became the fifth Indian to score a fifty-plus score and take four wickets.
Hardik Pandya is the only Indian player to achieve the feat outside the Indian subcontinent and the first Indian cricketer since Yuvraj Singh’s brilliance at the 2011 World Cup.
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Pandya and Pant have been rested for the upcoming ODI series against West Indies. The duo will join the Indian team towards the end of July for the five-match T20I series against West Indies. Meanwhile, Virat Kohli will also be missing the entire tour of the West Indies.
Here are some of the reactions from other Indian cricketers:
Looks like the 45 minute conversation made sense 😅!! Well played @RishabhPant17 that’s how you pace your ininings @hardikpandya7 great to watch 💪 #indiavseng
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) July 17, 2022
Super performance in england ..not easy in their country ..2-2 test .win in T20 and one days..well done dravid ,rohit sharma,ravi shastri,virat kohli @bcci ..pant just special..so is pandu ..
— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) July 17, 2022
Last match of a series and @RishabhPant17 playing brilliantly – this is a better love story than twilight.
Incredible innings from an incredible player – with great support from Hardik and Jadeja.#IndvsEng pic.twitter.com/WRGMEFb3sA
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) July 17, 2022
