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All-rounder Hardik Pandya was not at his explosive best on a tricky surface at St George's Park, Gqeberha in second T20I against South Africa. As India lost early wickets and struggled to post a fighting total, Pandya played too many dot balls in the middle overs. In the slog overs, Pandya wanted most of the strike for himself rather than let Arshdeep Singh swing his blade. In the 19th over, Pandya decided to keep the strike and told Arshdeep "Enjoy from the other end now" indicating that he will go after the bowlers.
Pandya struggles in last 10 balls
However, Pandya who was batting on 33 from 35 deliveries ended up struggling against Gerald Coetzee and Marco Jansen. In the penultimate over, could not touch a single delivery. Coetzee bowled a wide whereas Pandya kept the strike for final over via a bye on the final ball. In the final over, he got dropped twice and refused to take a single. He did not score a single run from first four deliveries. On the penultimate delivery, he got a couple of runs and then finished the innings with a boundary. After telling Arshdeep to stay at the non-striker's end, he managed to score just six runs from 10 balls.
Hardik enters unwanted list
India managed to post 124/6 after Aiden Markram won the toss and opted to bowl first. Arshdeep remained unbeaten for seven runs from six balls including a six. Pandya scored 39 runs from 45 balls including four fours and a six. His strike rate of 86.67 was third lowest for an Indian batter in a T20I innings after facing more than 40 balls. Only Ishan Kishan (83.33) and Dinesh Mongia (84.44) have a lower strike rate.
The 31-year-old faced a lot of flak for facing too many dot deliveries in the slog overs.
No wicket for Pandya
Pandya was unimpressive with the ball as well. He conceded 23 runs from three overs including a 10-run over when South Africa were under pressure.
As a result, India lost the game by three wickets despite Varun Chakravarthy's five-wicket haul.
