Fearless Hardik Pandya reveals why he gave the last over to Axar Patel against Sri Lanka in first T20I

Following the 2-run win over Sri Lanka in the first T20I on Tuesday, skipper Hardik Pandya revealed why he gave the final over to Axar Patel instead of bowling himself.

In the final over, 13 runs were needed for Sri Lanka to win the match. Hardik Pandya had 1 over left to bowl but he instead handed the ball to Axar Patel, who hasn’t had a great history of bowling the last over of the innings in the shortest format.

However, the left-arm spinner held his nerves and managed to get India across the line. Sri Lanka needed 4 runs on the final ball but Karunaratne could only manage to score 1 run off it, meaning India won the game by 2 runs.

Skipper Hardik Pandya stated that he took that decision because he wanted to put players in difficult situations as it will help them prepare for the big pressure games in the future.

“We might lose a game here and there but it’s alright. I want to put this team in difficult situations because it will help us in big games. Bilaterals we are very good at and this is how we are going to challenge ourselves. To be honest, all the young guns got us out of the situation today,” Pandya explained.

Earlier, India managed to post a challenging score of 162 runs in the first innings, India didn’t make a great start to their innings and lost five wickets for just 94 runs in 14.1 overs.

However, Deepak Hooda and Axar Patel then stitched an unbeaten 68-run partnership to help India come back into the game.

Deepak Hooda played an outstanding knock of 41 runs in 23 balls, while Patel also made a valuable contribution of 31 off 20 deliveries. Making his debut for India, Shivam Mavi wreaked havoc with the ball as he made sensational bowling returns of 4 for 22 in 4 overs.