Hardik Pandya farmed the strike in the final over of India's innings.
The all-rounder slammed 31 not out off 12 balls in the T20I series opener against South Africa in Delhi on Thursday (June 9). His knock was studded with 2 fours and 3 sixes.
However, Hardik also copped a bit of criticism for denying strike to Dinesh Karthik in the final over of India’s innings.
Karthik, who made his comeback into the Indian team on the back of his IPL exploits for RCB, arrived in the middle after stand-in skipper Rishabh Pant got out on the first delivery of the 20th over. The veteran batter failed to score a run on the first ball that he faced and then took a single.
Pandya smashed Anrich Nortje for a six on the fourth delivery and seemed confident to finish the innings on a high. He hit the penultimate ball of the innings to deep mid-wicket, but turned down the single to keep himself on the strike.
This decision of Hardik Pandya, however, drew him some flak from the cricket fans on Twitter. In fact, the crowd present at the Arun Jaitley Stadium also booed Pandya for farming the strike for the final delivery.
Here are the reactions:
Hardik Pandya managed to score a couple of runs on the last ball as the hosts finished with a massive 211/4 in 20 overs. Opener Ishan Kishan was the top scorer for India with 48-ball 76.