India vs England: Relieved Hardik Pandya bows down to Shikhar Dhawan after taking Ben Stokes' catch

Ben Stokes is always the most valuable wicket in England line-up irrespective of the format. His impact in all departments is always the best and a free-flowing Stokes, the batsman, is a dangerous prospect. And in case, he gets dropped, then the southpaw becomes even more dangerous. The way he smacked sixes at will in the second ODI against India, many felt Hardik Pandya had dropped the match when he spilled a sitter to reprieve Stokes.

It was in the fifth over when he hit one in the air to Bhuvneshwar Kumar and the ball travelled only till mid-off. Hardik settled under the ball but dropped the catch only for the disappointment of his teammates. Ben Stokes then carried England’s innings on his shoulders.

The nervousness on Hardik Pandya’s face through this period was visible. However, T Natarajan got the better of Stokes with a harmless full toss in the 11th over much to the relief of the India all-rounder. Stokes walked down the pitch and pulled the full toss only to find Shikhar Dhawan at deep mid-wicket.

Celebrations erupted in the India camp and Hardik was the one who was relieved as he literally bowled down to Dhawan for holding on to the catch. Stokes made 35 runs off 39 balls before getting out.

Here’s the video:

pic.twitter.com/V4Dn6wmXlF

— Simran (@CowCorner9) March 28, 2021

India post 329 runs batting first

Earlier in the day, India posted 329 runs on the board despite stuttering in the middle after a good start. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan gave them a good start scoring 103 runs but both the batsman and Virat Kohli got out soon to leave the team in trouble. KL Rahul also followed soon to leave India at 157/4.

From here on, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya stabilised, rather counter-attacked to keep up with the run-rate. Both the batsmen got to their respective half-centuries but got out at the wrong time. Shardul Thakur and Krunal Pandya then scored some useful runs to propel India to 329 runs. Though they didn’t play their full quota of overs, scoring quickly helped the hosts in posting a decent total on the board.