On Monday, Team India’s victory over Pakistan in a Group A match of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 was praised by Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI’s president. With two balls remaining, Team India, captained by Rohit Sharma, overcame their bitter opponents by five wickets as they chased down 148. Hardik Pandya, who played an undefeated inning of 33 off just 17 balls, stole the show. “Good result for India to start off. Lot of composure in a tight situation ..@bcci @ImRo45,” tweeted Ganguly.
Hardik Pandya’s journey through life came full circle on Sunday at the Dubai International Stadium when he defeated Pakistan, the same team against whom he had sustained an injury in 2018 during the Asia Cup and had to miss nearly three years of cricket play, with a game-winning knock. In order to help India overcome Pakistan by five wickets on Sunday, the all-rounder brought his A-game to the middle and took three wickets before making a quickfire 33. With two balls remaining, the Rohit Sharma-led team was able to defeat 148 thanks to this performance. Hardik can be seen speaking with Ravindra Jadeja in a video posted on the BCCI website, as he discusses getting hurt last year.
“I was remembering it all. I was stretchered off at the same venue against the same opponent in the 2018 Asia Cup. You feel a sense of achievement because of the things that have happened in the past, today I got an opportunity. The journey is beautiful. The fruits of our journey come to us, but behind the scenes, a lot of people do not get credit who walk along with us,” said Hardik. India was having trouble with their 148-run chase when Hardik and Ravindra Jadeja teamed up to create a 52-run stand for the fifth wicket. Jadeja passed away after scoring 35, but Hardik made sure the team won, nevertheless.
