Hardik Pandya faces heat on Twitter for his dismal show in Southampton

After a sizzling performance at Trent Bridge, Hardik Pandya failed to back it up in Southampton. He scored only four runs across both the innings and picked only a solitary wicket. Most importantly, he has been batting at number 6 for India and has nothing to show but a single half-century in the series. Even in the chase the other day, Pandya was expected to support Ajinkya Rahane. Instead, he bagged a seven-ball duck and then the team collapsed to hand England the match and the series.

He was one of the heroes for the visitors in the third Test and had scalped his maiden five-wicket haul in the longest format. Even with the bat, he brought his aggression to the fore and smashed his first half-century in the country. But a failure in the next game has made his performance look fluke. He was definitely expected to do more after the last match and he couldn’t even come close to it.

4 runs and a wicket- Pandya’s performance

On the other hand, England have got all the match-winners in the all-rounder department. Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali, all of them have major roles in the three wins for their team so far and their contributions have hurt India throughout the series. But Hardik Pandya, apart from the single game, has failed to stand tall which has hurt Virat Kohli’s men significantly.

The fans were not at all impressed with India’s highly rated all-rounder and questioned his place in the team. He’s being backed by the captain and the team management constantly and while the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Rahane have been dropped from the team, Pandya has played in all the seven overseas Tests so far.

Many are pointing out now that India should’ve played an extra batsman instead of him. Even Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at the youngster after the loss in the post-match show on Sunday and went on to say that he doesn’t qualify as the Test all-rounder. “You want to call Hardik Pandya an all-rounder? Whoever wants to call Pandya an all-rounder, may call! But I don’t think so,” he said.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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