India won the first ODI against New Zealand in Hyderabad by 12 runs despite setting a target of 350 runs for the Kiwis to chase. The match went down right to the wire with the Men in Blue gaining the win in the last over of the match.
Michael Bracewell with 140 and Mitchell Santner with 57 brought New Zealand back from the brink of the dead at 131/6 and almost took them to win. But Mohammed Siraj’s 4/46 and two wickets each from Shardul Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav were enough for India to win the match with a slim margin.
Before this, Rohit Sharma had won the toss and chose to bat first and India posted 349/8 with Shubman Gill making 208 runs with 19 fours and 9 sixes to his name. The next best scores were Rohit Sharma’s 34, Suryakumar Yadav’s 31, and Hardik Pandya’s 28 runs.
India was in a bit of a tangle at 175/4 in 28.3 overs, when all-rounder Pandya came in to bat. He stitched a crucial 74-run partnership with Gill.
However, Pandya was given out bowled in a controversial fashion off the fourth ball in the 40th over. Hardik trying to play a cheeky shot to a length ball by Daryl Mitchell, missed the ball completely, and after the ball settled into the gloves of keeper-captain Tom Latham, the off stump bail fell down.
After multiple replays from different angles, it was seemingly clear that the ball didn’t touch the bat and the keeper’s gloves were very near the off-stump when the ball passed the pegs. However, the TV umpire decided to judge Pandya bowled out.
But it also seemed as if the bails were dislodged by the wicketkeeper's gloves and not by the ball.
Cricket fans and experts got critical of the dismissal as they had their reservations about it and even Pandya looked upset after being adjudged bowled out.
Hardik’s wife Natasa also took a shot at the umpire’s decision by asking how Pandya was given out by posting a photo of the dismissal on her Instagram story.
The caption read: "There was no bat involved, wasn't bowled out. So how's this out?".
