Asia Cup 2022: Hardik Pandya's bromance with Mohammad Rizwan goes viral

Hardik Pandya emerged as India’s saviour in their hard-fought five-wicket victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2022 encounter at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday, August 28.

While Hardik played the innings of his life in what was arguably the most important match of his cricketing career, his bromance with Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan grabbed headlines and went viral on social media in no time. Both Hardik and Rizwan were seen involved in a funny on-field banter as the all-rounder hugged the latter by wrapping his right hand around the keeper’s neck.

Here’s the image of the duo’s bromance:

Hardik Pandya finishes off in style for India

Chasing a manageable target of 148, India got off to a disastrous start when KL Rahul chopped one on to his stumps off a delivery bowled from young pacer Naseem Shah and went back to the dugout without troubling the scorers. Naseem almost accounted for Virat Kohli for a duck had Fakhar Zaman not dropped a difficult chance at second slip.

After he got a much-needed reprieve, Virat made the Pakistani bowlers pay by showing fearless intent in the Powerplay overs with Rohit Sharma being a spectator at the non-strikers’ end. The duo added 49 runs before spinner Mohammad Nawaz sent both of them back. While Virat was dismissed for a 34-ball 35, Rohit could only manage 12.

Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja then tried to rebuild from a tough position. However, the former was castled by Naseem Shah for a run-a-ball 18 after which star all-rounder Hardik Pandya joined Jadeja, and both of them kept the scoreboard ticking for the Men in Blue.

The duo take some risks and played an attacking brand of cricket in the middle overs as the asking rate kept getting steeper. Pandya scored three fours off the penultimate over bowled by Haris Rauf and brought the equation down to seven runs off the final over.

Jadeja was bowled by Mohammad Nawaz on the very first delivery as he attempted to go for glory, but Hardik ensured that there were no further hiccups as he finished the proceedings with a maximum as India got home with two balls to spare. Hardik Pandya remained unbeaten on 33 runs off 17 deliveries.