Hardik Pandya’s batting always puts “India in a good stead”, skipper Rohit Sharma reiterated the ability of his team’s biggest ‘X-Factor’ in white-ball cricket after his fifty against Bangladesh all but put ‘Men in Blue’ into the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup.
Pandya, who scored the first half-century by an Indian No. 6 in a T20 World Cup game, also took a wicket in the team’s 50-run Super 8s win against Bangladesh here on Saturday.
Pandya has so far scored 89 runs in three innings with a strike-rate of 141, besides taking eight wickets.
“I mentioned in the last game as well, his batting well puts us in a good stead. We want to finish well and Hardik being Hardik we know what he is capable of,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“He is a very important player for us, if he can keep doing that, it will put us in good positions,” said the skipper.
On the day, Indian batters also showed more intent and there were quickfire 30s from three batters — Virat Kohli (37), Rishabh Pant (36) and Shivam Dube (34). The skipper himself set the tone with 23 off 11 balls.
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