India was totally outplayed in all departments of the game in the final by Pakistan. Right after Fakhar Zaman got a reprieve early in the innings when he edged the ball to Dhoni only to see Bumrah overstep, there was no moment after that when India was ahead in the game.
Thereafter it was Pakistan all the way. Pakistan never gave India even a sniff to India to come back into the game. Chasing 339, it was all over for India inside first 10 overs as top 3 were back in the pavilion.
Hardik Pandya was India”s lone warrior. He raised his own battle at The Oval that day. He nonchalantly smoked spinners out of the park. He blasted his way to 76 off 45 balls and got out in the most unfortunate manner. Jadeja was on strike. He dabbed the ball and called Hardik but didn”t run himself. The blitzkrieg innings was cut short by misfortune.
Talking about that Hardik said, “It took a lot of time. Only three minutes to be honest. It was just an outburst. I get hyper quickly and after few minutes I was laughing in the dressing room. Looking at me, some of the players were laughing too.”
The two players are talking to each other and friends again. Hardik has been in sensational striking form this year. Hardik has scored 244 runs this year for India at the strike rate of 144.38, highest for batsmen among top 8 teams. He is also the leading wicket-taker for India in ODI cricket this year with 14 scalps.
