IND v AUS 2020: "Love watching Pandya play" - Michael Bevan all praise for Hardik Pandya after the all-rounder's 76-ball 92*
Former Australian middle-order batsman Michael Bevan heaped praise on Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya for his phenomenal performance against Australia in the Canberra ODI. The 50-year-old Aussie stated on Instagram that he enjoyed watching Hardik Pandya batting in the middle.
The Indian cricket team got reduced to 152/5 in 32 overs despite captain Virat Kohli's half-century. Ravindra Jadeja joined Hardik Pandya in the middle after Kohli's departure.
The two Gujarat-based all-rounders steadied the ship before taking the opposition bowlers to the cleaners. Jadeja and Pandya added 150 runs for the sixth wicket as India finished with 302 runs in their 50 overs.
The left-handed Jadeja remained unbeaten on 66, while his partner missed out on a well-deserved century by eight runs.
Michael Bevan was impressed with Hardik Pandya's innings, and he made his thoughts known with a comment on ICC's Instagram post on the half-century.
Hardik Pandya will end the series as the leading run-getter for India
With the likes of Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, and Shikhar Dhawan in the Indian line-up, not many would have expected Hardik Pandya to emerge as India's best batsman in this ODI series. But the Mumbai Indians star has overcome his back issues and played a couple of fantastic knocks for the Indian team.
He kicked off the series with a splendid 90(76) at the Sydney Cricket Ground. In the next match, Pandya scored 28 runs off 31 deliveries. Earlier today, he smacked 92 runs from 76 balls to end the series with 210 runs in three games.
Unfortunately, he could not record his maiden ODI hundred despite playing so well. Still, the Indian team management would be satisfied with Hardik Pandya's performance at number six after MS Dhoni's retirement.