Hardik Pandya plays the Ping Pong shot in the 1st ODI

Hardik Pandya was the standout performer for Team India in the first One-Day International against Australia at Chepauk. In the midst of his innings, Pandya played an unorthodox shot which had everyone right from the Australian players to his batting partner MS Dhoni at the other end, awestruck at the nature of the shot.

In what was the fifth ball of the 24th over, Marcus Stoinis cut in a short ball from outside off. Since it was slow and short in length, Pandya had all the time in the world to determine where he wanted to play it. He put his bat parallel to his torso and deflected it over the wicketkeeper and slip. The ball went for a boundary as the Australian fielders were left wondering what kind of a shot was that. While it wasn’t a classic cricketing shot, the batsman got the result he desired.

Man of the Match Pandya

Hardik has made a name for himself as a power hitting in the lower order. Coming in at No.7, India were in a spot of bother at 87/5 when Pandya walked out to the middle. He began his innings slowly but once he got into the groove, didn’t settle for the singles and doubles and was soon in his own zone.

Scoring a quickfire 83 runs from just 66 balls, Pandya hit 5 sixes and 5 boundaries in his knock. It included an instance where he hit three consecutive sixes off Adam Zampa. The all-rounder alongside senior-pro Dhoni stitched a fantastic 118-run partnership for the sixth wicket as India recovered from 87/5 to 205/6.

While he missed out on a century, he took India to a secure position in the game with his knock. He also got the wickets of Travis Head and Steve Smith at a crucial stage to set the game in India’s favour. He was deservingly awarded the Player of the Match for his all round show.

BCCI shared the video on their Facebook page watch it here