Hardik 2.0: Back To The Future

It’s a Wednesday. an Abbott is bowling the fourth ball of the 46th over in the third ODI. The first two deliveries produce a single and double. The third’s a naught. India are 232-5 with 27 balls left. Hardik Pandya is on strike. He’s the kind who believes he can always turn things around. Can he?

- K. Shriniwas Rao

An edge to third man brings a four. Can do this better, Pandya tells himself. An astonishing upper-cut brings a six. That’s more like it, he says. A fine glance down the leg side brings another boundary. This is my day, he smiles. Fourteen off three deliveries. Another 17 runs off the next ten will see him stay unbeaten at 92 off 76 — his highest ODI score. “We were expecting 260-270. But we always say when you try to score 60-70, you can end up getting 90. We aimed for 60-65 and because of the shots we have, we were able to get the extra 20-25,” he says.