Twitter Reactions: Hardik Pandya gives Mumbai a late push with his 14-ball 32

While the focus remained more on Jasprit Bumrah in the game between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Mumbai Indians (MI), another somebody decided to come to the party and he is also one of India’s main trump cards for the upcoming World Cup – Hardik Pandya. The Baroda all-rounder did not have a memorable game against Delhi Capitals the other night, going for a lot of runs without a wicket and scoring a duck.

He made it up with the bat against the RCB by playing a timely knock of 32 not out in 14 balls at M Chinnaswamy Stadium down the order to take them to a competitive total. The RCB bowlers put a check on the MI batters after their openers Quinton de Kock (23) and Rohit Sharma (48) gave them a flying start after RCB captain Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bowl. The likes of Suryakumar Yadav (38) and Yuvraj Singh (23) couldn’t capitalise after getting starts while Kieron Pollard’s poor form (5) continued.

Hardik came out to bat at No.7 with MI at 145 for 5 with four overs to go. He made the full use of the opportunity he had in those overs and belted over 30 runs with help of two boundaries and three sixes, two of which came against Mohammed Siraj in the final over while the other came against Navdeep Saini in the one before.

Hardik’s journey in the last six years has not been smooth

Hardik’s journey over the last six months has been quite a bumpy one. He was stretchered off the ground during a match against Pakistan in Asia Cup last September after suffering an injury and remained off the field for a while. He made his comeback in a Ranji Trophy game in December and did well.

However, just as he was about to make his India comeback, he was hit by a television controversy and was temporarily suspended along with KL Rahul. He eventually made his return midway in the series in New Zealand but missed India’s final international assignment which was held recently at home against Australia because of back injury. For the 25-year-old, it’s the IPL where he has to get all his practice for the World Cup before the squad is picked next month and the MI will expect more such knocks coming from him in the next games.

Here are some of the reactions to Hardik’s crucial knock in Bengaluru: