Hardik Pandya revealed what he said to Rishabh Pant when the two joined in the middle in a tricky situation. Hardik Pandya said that he kept repeating the same thing to Rishabh Pant of taking the game deep and when they are close, then having some fun as he does.

Hardik Pandya completed his magnificent run in the white-ball series against England with a terrific all-around performance taking 4 wickets with the ball and constructing quick yet calculative innings of 71 (55) in partnership with Rishabh Pant when India found themselves in trouble at 72/4.

Hardik Pandya Kept On Repeating Advice To Rishabh Pant To Take The Match As Close As Possible And Finish It

The duo combined for a match-winning 133-run partnership where Hardik Pandya was the aggressor while Rishabh Pant took his time and launched only when the victory was in sight.

“I was just repeating the same thing and even told him that I am repeating it too much!” Hardik Pandya would tell at the end of a fabulous partnership that helped India seal the ODI series against England.

 “Let’s have a partnership, take the match as close as possible, and finish the match. If you then want to enjoy (Pandya smiles), enjoy. Finish the match first!” Pandya revealed.

“And then he opened up (later on in the innings). Everyone knows when Rishabh starts hitting, you sit down and say okay you bat! The talent that he has and the talent that I perhaps have – there was no need to take any risks at that stage. Without any risks, we could score those runs as there were not many runs to get. The only way England could come back is if we lose back-to-back wickets.”

“So again and again, I was just repeating one thing,” Pandya would say. “He did exactly that. Initially, when I went in, he got a bit stuck, but the flow developed in partnership.”

Revealing what he told Rishabh Pant during the partnership, Hardik Pandya said that he said only one thing to the 24-year-old and that they have to take the match as close as possible as the only thing that could bring England back into the game was wickets, which they couldn’t afford to lose.

Hardik Pandya got out to Brydon Carse in the 36th over but till that time, the run rate was below 4, and runs required were less than 60. Rishabh Pant brought up his century and scored his last 25 runs in just 7 balls including five boundaries in David Willey’s over.

Rishabh Pant And Hardik Pandya Were Criticized For Reckless Batting As India Lost The 2019 World Cup Semifinal Against New Zealand

Only three years back, the duo had been criticized for their cricket at the same venue, Old Trafford. Chasing 240, India was 24/4 at the end of the powerplay when Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya converged in the middle for the World Cup semi-final against New Zealand.

Their stay together lasted for only 77 balls, adding only 47 runs to India’s total. A 21-year-old Rishabh Pant couldn’t hold himself from getting down on the back knee and trying to clear the long boundary over midwicket. A 25-year-old Hardik Pandya was unable to stop himself from attempting a slog sweep leading to a top edge and eventually, a catch at the midwicket. Both crumbled under the rising asking rate. The last time they batted together at Old Trafford, in the WC semi-final, Rishabh Pant, and Hardik Pandya’s dismissals were seen as reckless.

On Sunday, July 17, India was 188 runs short of their target and four wickets less when the two met again in the middle at Old Trafford. In the series decider ODI against the 2019 world champions England, the partnership that had ended at the score of 71 in 2019, began to start again like a new chapter or perhaps a new book from the 24-year-old Rishabh Pant and the 28-year-old Hardik Pandya.

From captaining their IPL franchises to captaining India, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya have tasted leadership and become more seasoned in the game since that fateful July evening three years back.

Reece Topley had got the better of nine Indian batters in the last two ODIs using that left arm pacer to right handed batter angle advantage over the wicket. Ideally, a left-hander facing more of the left arm pacer would’ve been the simple answer. But with Rishabh Pant taking his time to get to score ticking, Hardik Pandya decided to go after England’s best bowler.

His answer to Reece Topley moving the ball away was in taking two steps to his right, outside the off-stump to be in a better position to connect with the ball moving away. Like all good authoritarians, Hardik Pandya shut off the opposition’s best option and left them searching for answers elsewhere. His fifty, much like his maiden 4fer, brought his team back into the game.

Hardik Pandya’s partner, Rishabh Pant, who had displayed an uncharacteristic sense of no urgency for the most part of his innings, upped the madness ante towards the end. Targeting Craig Overton in his second spell was only fair given the length and width that was on offer.

What Rishabh Pant did to David Willey however, in the dying embers of the chase was violence. One could’ve noticed the signs in the six he hit off the pacer in the 40th over of the chase while batting at 89. Bending his back knee and smoking it over deep mid-wicket. A shot he had failed to execute against Mitchell Santner, a spinner, at the same end of this very ground, in that match against New Zealand.

The five fours in five different directions of the ground were just Rishabh Pant being himself. A flat-batted hard shot down at long-off, a short ball pulled towards square leg, a hammer of a cover-drive, a paddle to fine leg, and a whack down the ground later, he still had the audacity to take a single off the last ball so that he could score the winning runs. He hit a reverse sweep off Joe Root and finished the India tour of England on a high with the ODI series win.