Watch: Rishabh Pant sacrifices wicket for Hardik Pandya; gives all-rounder thumbs up in T20 WC SF vs England
Hardik #Hardik
In a gesture that won hearts across the Indian cricket fraternity, Rishabh Pant sacrificed his wicket in the ongoing 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final against England at the Adelaide Oval. The incident happened on the 3rd ball of the 20th over of the innings which was bowled by tricky pacer Chris Jordan.
After Pant missed a delivery which went into keeper Jos Buttler’s hands; Hardik ran immediately from the non-striker’s end. Pant ensured that he did not leave his crease until Buttler’s throw hit the stumps and then left the crease after Hardik had made his way onto the striker’s end. Pant was spotted giving a thumbs up to Hardik.
Pant walked into bat after Virat Kohli’s dismissal in the 19th over and scored a 4-ball 6 which included one boundary. Hardik ensured that Pant’s sacrifice did not go in vain as he smashed a six and four on the next two deliveries. He was unfortunately dismissed hit-wicket on the final ball of the innings.
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Hardik ended his knock with a stunning knock of 63 in just 33 balls which helped India put a respectable total of 168 on the board in the high-pressure game. This was the third half-century of Hardik’s T20I career and the first-ever in a T20 World Cup match.
The knock came on the back of some poor form with the bat for Hardik as he had made just 65 runs with bat in four games so far. After his crucial knock of 40 in India’s incredible win over Pakistan, the star all-rounder was struggling to get going with the bat but produced an incredible knock in the all-important game.
Talking about Pant, he got into the team after missing the four games where Dinesh Karthik was prefered as the starter. Earlier in the innings, Kohli scored his fourth half-century of the tournament to give the team a perfect platform to go big in the final overs.
