After the 19th over, MS Dhoni called out to Hardik Pandya. He came sprinting towards his captain and was all ears. He took the ball in his hand and began walking towards his run-up mark - not before he had been given some words of wisdom from Ashish Nehra. There are a few more words told to Pandya, who is just about reaching his mark. Pats on the back from the fielders inside the circle follow; claps from fielders in the deep and some hopeful eyes in the dressing room. Pandya himself looks tense as he runs to bowl the first ball which is crunched for a single.
Again, you have fielders wandering around the inner circle, motivating the young all-rounder and instilling belief that he can do the job for his side. To everyoneās dismay, the next two balls are dispatched for boundaries. Mushfiqur Rahim is over the moon and has a war cry look on his face almost shouting at Pandyaās face.
Pandya doesnāt react and walks back to get him caught in the deep by Shikhar Dhawan. Next, Mahmudullah is out caught by an agile Ravindra Jadeja in yet another glory shot. Mahmudullah doesnāt want to leave the field, but Alas! His moment is over, thatās almost game set and match India. Pandya holds himself, keeps his calm and bowls the perfect final delivery to a tail-ender as Dhoni sprints to rip the stumps off. The M. Chinnaswamy is blaring, the Indian flags are waving in full flurry and the fans are at their feet. India have clinched a thriller.
āI donāt have words right now; my voice is also breaking. It is just an amazing feeling,ā Pandya said, speaking to BCCI.TV. āIt is the biggest moment of my life. To defend those runs and win the match for your country is special. To be honest, the plan was simple and that was to not concede those 11 runs in the final over. It paid off,ā Pandya begins to recall his final over. āI canāt even tell you how it felt at that point of time. Bangladesh were leading all the time and in the end, we just believed in ourselves and it came out well. After those two wickets, the tail-enders were batting so I donāt think it was worth to go for a yorker. The plan was simple and that was to bowl a batsmanās delivery and understand how a batsman would find it difficult to hit under the given scenario. We tried it and it came out pretty well.ā
āEverybody was really pumped up to get a win. They were really energetic on the field and when Hardik came to bowl the last over, we were confident that he would bowl well,ā pitched in Ravindra Jadeja. āThe first crucial ball that he bowled, went for just one run and we knew that if he bowled a couple of good balls, we would be in the game. I think we took a couple of brilliant catches on the field in the last over. Those were crucial catches and the ones that changed the outcome of the game completely. We capitalized well,ā added Jadeja.
But what were those words of wisdom from captain MS Dhoni before walking out to bowl? āHe didnāt tell me much. He just told me ābindaas karā (bowl without any fear) because he knows that if I do something with confidence, I would get success. He gave me full freedom to bowl the way I wanted to,ā smiled Pandya.
There came a moment when Mushfiqur hit two consecutive boundaries and what followed was a glare from him as reacted just in front of Pandya with jubilation. Pandya said, that moment didnāt charge him up, but he had his own way of answering him back. āIt was not about charging up. He thought the match was over when there were still three balls left in the match. I guess my bowling was a fitting reply to that. I am glad we could come out winning at the end of it. The pressure was there because a lot was at stake. Had we lost this game, things would have become really difficult for us against Australia in the next game. We would have had to wait for results of other teams and then take it from there.ā
Still lost for words, Pandya reckoned this memory is going to stay with him for a long time. āI donāt want to rate my performance because I might perform well some other day as well. This performance will stay for long. People will remember this performance and so will I. I know this over may have made me a hero for tonight, but at the same time, it could have made me a criminal had I not defended it.ā
