It was a tailor-made situation for Hardik Pandya as the platform was set by Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav up top for the middle order to go hard against the Kolkata Knight Riders bowling which looked rusty in their opening fixture of this Indian Premier League. It was Andre Russell who came up to bowl and the West Indies all-rounder dropped in a couple of yorkers. So going back in striker Hardik was deep into his crease anticipating Russell to bowler another yorker.
ICYMI – Hardik – hit wicket b Russell
What happened there? Far back in the crease and Hardik Pandya hits the stumps. First hit wicket of the tournament.
?️?️https://t.co/B3P7lPzB2a #MIvKKR #Dream11IPL pic.twitter.com/4cAc7F5shf
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) September 23, 2020
Here are how the fans reacted to the hit-wicket-
Hardik Pandya giving up his wicket be like : pic.twitter.com/k7yFudeBuR
— Gujarati Chhokro (@pubgkadeewana) September 23, 2020
Hardik Pandya’s reaction after getting self out- pic.twitter.com/hIjCbrbT0G
— Perfect Errorist (@TheNitishaDixit) September 23, 2020
KKR bowlers trying to take wicket of hardik pandya
*Le hardik pandya pic.twitter.com/PCpm9GlTTf— Hariom patel (@Science_wale) September 23, 2020
Hardik Pandya after getting out from hit wicket pic.twitter.com/9ALhBv0N1n
— Tanishq (@Tanishq_4090) September 23, 2020
The Funny Dismissal That Trended On Twitter
To everyone’s surprise, the Mumbai Indians allrounder struck his own wicket with his willow and got out by hit wicket. Andre Russell could not believe what happened as Dinesh Karthik went up appealing and finally realizing that the explosive batsman has committed a very unforced error.
Mumbai Indians lost the early wicket of Quinton de Kock but from there Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav started counter-attacking the KKR bowlers and smashed them to all parts of the ground. Rohit Sharma perished after scoring 80 while Yadav scored 47.
Pandya has looked rusty mostly so after the long break from cricket and also he coming back from a serious back injury. Hardik could only manage 18 runs off 13 deliveries after he got out in the 19th over to Russell. He went back to the dugout with a sheepish smile on his face realising his mistake.
The best reaction obviously-
Not the first time Hardik Pandya got hit wicket. The first one was on a coffee show. #MIvKKR
— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) September 23, 2020
Hardik Pandya Needs To Do Better; As The Fans Had A Laugh
Hardik was sidelined because of his back injury. However, he had his surgery in October and was out of action as he was recuperating. He gradually got better and was named in India’s ODI squad for the home series against South Africa in March. Despite that, the series was postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The reigning IPL champions lost their first game against Chennai Super Kings and there Jasprit Bumrah had a bad day at the office but we did not see captain Rohit Sharma turning the ball towards Hardik Pandya even for one over. So it seems that the Indian allrounder is not 100% ready to bend his back and today he looked rusty with the bat too.
Mumbai Indians who enjoy a great record against the Knight Riders have posted a mammoth total of 195 as Shivam Mavi managed to pull back a few runs at the end. The total which once looked like crossing 200 easily has been pulled back a little but it will be interesting to see how the KKR batters fare on this Abu Dhabi wicket.
