'He felt he could have won us that day': Sridhar recalls Pandya's dressing room reaction after run out in CT 2017 final
Hardik Pandya was run out on 76 off 43 deliveries during the final of the Champions Trophy 2017 against Pakistan.
India's star all-rounder Hardik Pandya made a brilliant return to international cricket earlier this year, following his exploits in the 2022 Indian Premier League. The 28-year-old star all-rounder led Gujarat Titans to the title in franchise's maiden season, and produced consistent performances for Team India as well; he is now an integral part of the side in limited-overs formats and will be travelling with the squad to Australia for the 2022 T20 World Cup, scheduled to take place in October-November.
Hardik's back injury had kept him away from the side in regular intervals over the past few years. But before the injury first struck the all-rounder in 2018, he had been a consistent feature for the side in all formats. In fact, the all-rounder had played a blinder in the 2017 Champions Trophy final against Pakistan that took India to a respectable score after a top-order collapse.
Pandya was batting on 76 off 43 deliveries when a bit of miscommunication with partner Ravindra Jadeja led to the former's run out. The all-rounder was livid with himself as he departed towards the pavilion and R Sridhar, who was India's fielding coach at the time, has now revealed Pandya's reaction as he entered the dressing room.
“He felt he could have won us that day,” Sridhar revealed on cricket.com.
“The way he was batting, he was in his zone, as they call it. And he thought him and Jadeja could have won us the game. Unfortunately, not to be. But again, that put Hardik on the world map, didn't it,” Sridhar further said.
Pakistan had put on a strong score of 338/4 in fifty overs, thanks to Fakhar Zaman's century (114) and half-century knocks from Azhar Ali (59) and Mohammad Hafeez (57*). In reply, India were reduced to 33/3 with their top-3 of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and Virat Kohli departing cheaply. India lost their next three wickets within 39 runs with Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav also being dismissed early before Ravindra Jadeja joined Hardik Pandya in the middle.
The duo had put 80 runs for the seventh wicket before Pandya's run out all but sealed the game for Pakistan. India were eventually bowled out on 158.
