“Denied a chance to score a fifty,” ex-India player unimpressed with Hardik Pandya for not giving chance to Tilak Varma to score his 50

When India needed just two runs to win the match and Tilak Varma needed one run to score his half-century, Pandya finished the match by scoring a six.

“Denied a chance to score a fifty,” ex-India player unimpressed with Hardik Pandya for not giving chance to Tilak Varma to score his 50

Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (Images via Twitter)

India’s stand-in skipper Hardik Pandya left no stone unturned with his captaincy during the third T20I against West Indies on Tuesday (August 8) at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. However, his antic in the 18th over drew flak from the Indian cricket fraternity. When India needed just two runs to win the match and Tilak Varma needed one run to score his half-century, Pandya finished the match by scoring a six.

Varma has played exceptionally well throughout the series and would have scored his back-to-back half-century but remained stranded on an unbeaten 49. Pandya on the other hand came to the pitch after the dismissal of Suryakumar Yadav who was in his element as he played a blazing innings of 83 runs from 44 balls with 10 fours and four sixes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exRhF74pJng

Suryakumars knock ensured that the latter batters will have a couple of scores to complete the run chase. Pandya scored an unbeaten 20 off 15 balls, while Varma scored 49 from 37 balls. As Pandya played that last short, fans were quick to point out that Pandya should have let the 20-year-old score his consecutive half-century in his debut T20I series. Chopra feels there was no worry regarding the net run rate and that Pandya shouldn’t have denied Varma his half-century.

“Hardik tells him it’s important to remain not out, don’t get carried away. Then Hardik plays the big shot himself. You don’t need NRR, it would have made no difference,” Akash Chopra said on his YouTube channel. “Tilak was denied a chance to score a fifty. He did not get an opportunity.”

Related: “Great strategy to keep players hungry”- Hardik Pandya labeled SELFISH for not letting Tilak Varma complete his half-century in third T20I against West Indies

Tilak Varma the rising star impressed the most 

"Denied a chance to score a fifty," ex-India player unimpressed with Hardik Pandya for not giving chance to Tilak Varma to score his 50
Tilak Varma (Image via Twitter)

West Indies scored 159/5 in 20 overs, which India, with the help of Suryakumar Yadav’s 83, chased down the target in 17.5 overs to win the match by seven runs. The next T20I will be played on Saturday (August 12) while the final will be held the next day, at the Central Broward Regional Park in Florida.

Throughout the T20I series played so far, 20-year-old Tilak Varma has been the most consistent batter for India. In the 1st T20I, he scored 39 off 22 balls, then in the second T20I, he scored his maiden fifty, playing a knock of 51 off 41 balls. And in the third one, as already mentioned, he score an unbeaten 49.

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