Sri Lanka’s young all-rounder Chamika Karunaratne received a prized possession from his role model and Team India all-rounder Hardik Pandya ahead of the first T20I in Colombo on July 25 (Sunday).
The all-rounder who made his debut during the first T20I against India met his role model ahead of the first T20I. After a chat, Hardik Pandya was seen presenting Chamika Karunaratne with one of his bats.
The 25-year-old took to his Instagram handle to post the video which will remain close to him for a long time. Chamika Karunaratne captioned the video as:
“Honoured to receive a bat from my role model @hardikpandya93 thank you so much for giving me your bat, you are an amazing human being and I will never forget this day. May God bless you always.”
Hardik Pandya’s lean patch continues
The ace all-rounder is yet to get into the rhythm with both bat and ball which has earned him criticisms from all quarters. Hardik Pandya has only managed 29 runs in the series and has picked up only three wickets. The management will want Pandya to hit the strides as soon as possible with T20 World Cup to follow.
Meanwhile, despite Hardik Pandya’s poor form, India convincingly won the first T20I to go 1-0 up in the three-match series. Batting first, the Men in Blue banked on another Suryakumar Yadav masterclass to post 164 runs on the board which in the end was enough to seal the tie.
Sri Lanka at one point looked to dominate the proceedings with Charith Asalanka leading the charge but Indian bowlers bounced back swiftly to win the match. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets.