IND vs NZ: Hardik Pandya presents T20I series trophy to benched Prithvi Shaw as video goes viral - Watch
Team India
On Wednesday (February 01), Hardik Pandya-led India locked horns with New Zealand in the third and final T20I with the scoreline being 1-1. Opting to bat first at the iconic Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium, Ahmedabad, India rode on Shubman Gill's 63-ball 126 not out and Rahul Tripathi's 22-ball 44 to post a daunting 234 for 4. In reply, the Mitchell Santner-led Black Caps were never in the hunt and only managed a paltry 66 all-out in 12.1 overs to lose by a whopping 168-run margin. With the series win, India maintained their stronghold on the No. 1 spot in the ICC T20I rankings.
Talking about the contest, India went into the game with only one change with Umran Malik coming in place of Yuzvendra Chahal. Thus, Prithvi Shaw -- who recently slammed 379 in Ranji Trophy -- remained benched which made heads turn in the cricketing fraternity. India backed Gill and Ishan Kishan, who once again fell flat in the series finale. After the easy win over the Kiwis in the Ahmedabad T20I, skipper Hardik Pandya was presented with the trophy by BCCI President Roger Binny and Secretary Jay Shah. Hardik quickly handed the trophy to benched Shaw, grabbing eyeballs for the out-of-favour player.
Here's the video:
Shaw would be disappointed to not get a game under his belt during the NZ series. He will aim for a memorable run in IPL 2023 and make a strong statement to get a longer rope in the T20I setup with the World Cup next year in West Indies and the USA.
At the post-match presentation, a jubilant Hardik reflected on the series win and said, "I don't mind winning (man of the series award), but there were so performances here that were exceptional. This Man of the Series and trophy goes out to the whole support staff, I'm happy for all of them. (On doing things out of the box) Not to be honest, I always play the game like this. I try to read what is required, not have preconceived ideas. In my captaincy, I look to keep it simple and back my gut. I have a simple rule -if I go down, I will go down on my terms.We've spoken about taking challenges. When we played the IPL final, we felt the second innings was more spicy but on this surface today I wanted to make it a normal game because it was a decider. Hence, we batted first. Hopefully, we can continue performing like this."
India will now shift their focus to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, at home, versus Australia which gets underway on February 09.