Fans in awe of Manish Pandey's stunning catch to dismiss Sarfraz Ahmed

India defeated rather thumped Pakistan by eight wickets in the ongoing Asia Cup. Though it was an inconsequential game, in the context of the tournament, it meant a lot for the players and fans. Both the teams were meeting for the first time in more than a year and expectedly the cricketers were also excited. Indo-Pak games bring the best out of the reserve players as well when they come out on the field and the same happened with Manish Pandey who brought his skills to the fore to dismiss Sarfraz Ahmed.

An unfortunate injury to Hardik Pandya meant that India were a bowler short and Kedar Jadhav had to fill in for him. Also, Pandey, the 12th man, came out on the field to replace him. He is one of the best fielders in the Indian team and was eager to make an impact despite being benched for this all-important game.

Pandey’s acrobatics

Kedar Jadhav’s tidy bowling was putting pressure on Pakistan batsmen. In a bid to release it a bit, Sarfraz Ahmed took an aerial route as he hit a flighted delivery in the air and the ball was travelling six. But Pandey had different ideas. He ran towards the ball and caught it.

But the momentum was taking him over the boundary of which Pandey was aware and rightfully, he got rid of the ball in time only to catch it afterwards. This is not the first time that India’s fittest player has showcased his talent near the boundary ropes. More often than not, he makes sure that the batsman is dismissed when the ball comes towards him and this time it was no different.

Sarfraz’s stay in the middle was cut-short for only six runs off 12 deliveries as Pakistan slumped further and never recovered. Meanwhile, Twitter was in awe of Manish Pandey and they hailed him for his acrobatics on the field.

Here’s how Twitter hailed Manish: