'Don’t have any status...,' Aakash Chopra on Hardik Pandya's batting against Bangladesh bowlers
Hardik Pandya’s swagger grows in Gwalior with ‘no-look shot’ – WATCH
Former cricketer Aakash Chopra has praised India all-rounder Hardik Pandya for his performance in the recently-concluded 3-0 series win against Bangladesh. Pandya was named Player-of-the-Series for his 118 runs and a wicket across three matches.
"Hardik Pandya was the Player of the Series. He has seen the lows of lows in his personal and professional life, getting booed - everything has happened. His batting in all three matches, he has played few balls but always with a strike rate above 200. I thought he was absolutely sensational,” said Chopra while speaking on his YouTube channel.
“His swag is different. It was like hooliganism. He hit a six over cover and a no-look one-handed six on the leg side... He is batting differently. It was almost like insulting the bowlers, as though they don’t have any status at all,” he added.
Pandya started the series with a blistering 16-ball 39 in the first T20I, which also included a no-look upper cut off a pacer. In the third T20I, Pandya smashed an 18-ball 47, and one of his shots was a checked driveover the covers, which went for six.
Pandya scored those runs at an average of 59 and a strike rate of 222.64. Pandya, who was touted as India's next T20I skipper, has rediscovered himself since getting injured in middle of the 2023 ODI World Cup.
He made a comeback from the injury during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 as Mumbai Indians skipper for which he was booed by fans a lot.
The all-rounder, however, played an important role in India's T20 World Cup 2024 winning campaign and bowled the last over against South Africa in the final as well.
For captaincy though, he was overlooked due to his injury-prone nature as per the selectors and Suryakumar Yadav instead was handed the job after Rohit Sharma decided to retire following T20 World Cup final.
