India completed an ODI series win with a five-wicket win over England in the third and final ODI at Old Trafford in Manchester. It was turning out to be a low-scoring thriller before Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant took the sting out of the game with their 133-run stand for the fourth wicket.
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Pant remained unbeaten to complete his maiden ODI century, while Pandya slammed 71 off just 55 deliveries, finding the boundary at an average of almost every five balls he played. Pandya’s ruthless approach in the middle overs allowed Pant to continue at his own pace, and he broke free only after the game was sealed in India’s favour. Pant reverse-swept Joe Root in the 42nd over to take India across England’s total.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly congratulated the team for their 2-1 win on English soil, but soon it backfired against him. Ganguly’s tweet was weirdly framed, and he wrote ‘Pandu’ instead of Pandya.
Some users felt this is a drunk tweet from Ganguly, and asked him “what he has been smoking nowadays”.
He also mentioned Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli in the tweet. Many thought mentioning Kohli has a hint of sarcasm as he hasn’t done well in the limited-overs.
But he was congratulating the former skipper for leading the side in the first three matches of the Test series, which happened last year.
Earlier in the game, Pandya ran through the English attack by taking four crucial wickets. His victims included Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Liam Livingstone, and Jos Buttler, who once threatened to take England to a challenging total.
Pandya’s bowling has been the biggest positive to emerge from this series for India. He looked comfortable every time he came to bowl, and finished the series with six wickets, second only to Jasprit Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Pant was reprieved early in his innings when Jos Buttler missed a stumping chance. But he didn’t look back ever since, and finished the game with six boundaries in the last seven balls he played.
Featured Image Credit: Sourav Ganguly
