Hardik Pandya denies Tilak Varma chance to hit fifty in 3rd T20I, Aakash Chopra not impressed

Hardik Pandya did most things right on Tuesday as India clinched a resounding 7-wicket victory in the 3rd T20I of a 5-match series against the West Indies.

However, the India T20I captain has been facing criticism for hitting the winning six in India’s successful chase of 160. Yes, you read that right. The all-rounder denied Tilak Varma an opportunity to his his second successive fifty in the T20i series as Hardik’s winning six came when India needed 2 runs with 2.1 overs to go.

Former India opener Aakash Chopra expressed his disappointment at Tilak Varma not being able to get a fifty in the 3rd T20I. The cricketer-turned-pundit also said he was not able to understand why Hardik Pandya went for the big hit when there was no concern of Net Run Rate in the bilateral series.

Aakash Chopra highlighted that Hardik Pandya had told Tilak Varma to take it easy after walking into the middle following the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav, who hit a match-winning 83 from just 44 balls. Hardik remained unbeaten on 20 from 15 balls in a successful 43-run stand for the 4th wicket.

India began the 18th over, needing 5 runs to win. Both Tilak and Suryakumar were happy taking singles against West Indies captain Rovman Powell before Hardik brought out the big shot and finished the match, leaving Tilak Varma stranded on 49.

“Hardik comes to bat… now this is interesting. Hardik tells him it’s important to remain not out, don’t get carried away. Then Hardik plays the big shots himself… you don’t need NRR, it would’ve made no difference. Hadik told Tilak to go easy, but tried to hit big shots himself. You needed 2 runs off 13 balls. He could have taken a single and given Tilak a strike and he smashed a six,” Aakash Chopra said during his YouTube show.

NEW TEAM CULTURE?
The former opener wondered if it’s all part of team culture building in terms of not worrying about personal milestones as India build a young team for next year’s T20 World Cup.

“I’m sure they want to build a culture where a player doesn’t care about small things like remaining not out or getting a fifty – individual matter. But even a not out doesn’t really matter here, even if you were out there, you still had 12 balls there to score 2 runs. Tilak was denied a chance to score a fifty. He did not get an opportunity. That’s just my opinion, though. You can call me old-fashioned,” Chopra added.

The former opener, however, had big words of praise for Tilak Varma, who has been sensational with three 30-plus scores, including a fifty in his first 3 outings in international cricket.

“Tilak Varma, outstanding. First Indian to get 30+ scores in his first three international innings. He scored a fifty in his previous games and was close to another this time too, in fact, it should’ve been a fifty,” he added.