On Tuesday, Fans slammed India captain Hardik Pandya for his “selfish, disgusting” act in the third T20I against the West Indies. His mockery on social media came after Hardik Pandya denied his Team India colleague Tilak Varma to score a run to complete his fifty at the fag-end of the visitors' run chase against the home side.

After West Indies posted a score of 159/5 in their allotted 20 overs, the Indian cricket team found itself under tremendous pressure at 34/2, having lost both openers by the time Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma joined each other for a grand fightback.

While Yashasvi Jaiswal got out for 1 in his debut game, Shubman Gill's poor run of form continued in the series as he perished for six. After that, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma took the lead, forging an 87-run partnership before the former was sent back to the pavilion by Alzarri Joseph for 83.

After Suryakumar Yadav's departure, Hardik Pandya came out to bat and immediately found his groove in the middle. As the Indian innings proceeded, the Men in Blue required only two runs to register their first win in the five-match series with more than two overs to spare.

With Tilak Varma batting at 49*, everyone thought Hardik Pandya would allow him to reach his half-century. But, the India skipper was in no mood to delay his side's victory as he finished the contest with a six, leaving Tilak Varma stranded on 49.

Hardik Pandya's act, however, did not go down well with the Indian cricket admirers as they bashed him on X, formerly Twitter. Some even dubbed his gesture “shameful” and asked him to learn selflessness from his mentor, the legendary MS Dhoni.

 

Hardik Pandya, however, was unperturbed by his trolling on social media. Instead, he labeled his team's victory at the Providence Stadium in Guyana “important”.

“Obviously it was very important within the group. I said that it was a very important game that had to be enjoyed. At the end of the day, we have the long-term plan that we have in our mind. And at the same time, it is also our goal to show that we have the plan to do the job here in this point in time,” Hardik Pandya said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

On being asked if the Indians had a specific plan for former West Indies skipper Nicholas Pooran who was responsible for their loss in the last match because of his blistering fifty, the allrounder mentioned that they did have a plan for him.

“Yeah, if Nicky wants to hit, let him hit me, that was the plan. I enjoy that kinda competition where I know I cannot err the line or length a lot. As it gives the advantage to Nicky. In the fourth game, I hope he comes very hard at me and gives me a wicket as well,” he added.

When asked if Indian spinners were part of their tactics against Nicholas Pooran, Hardik Pandya insisted that he wanted to deploy them when he was not at the crease.

“We wanted to use them more with Nicky [Pooran] not coming in. Axar didn't bowl in the last match, but the way he bowled today, I could use Yuzi and Kuldeep later. Mukesh and Arshdeep ended well,” the 29-year-old explained.

“Within the group it is important we back ourselves. It is what it is. We don't have someone at 8. But bowlers win you games. If batters scores runs, you don't anyone at 8. The next game will be exciting,” he opined.

Hardik Pandya also shared his views on the match-winning partnership between Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma, who combined for an 87-run stand that gave India a firm footing in the game.

“Surya and Tilak play together and understand the game well. It's good to have Surya in my team. He loves the challenge and I like to have someone like him. With the strike rate he bats, it gives the other batters a chance to learn what he is doing and that also shows his character,” Hardik Pandya concluded.

On the other hand, West Indies skipper Rovman Powell admitted that his side fell short by at least 10-15 runs during their batting. At the same time, his speedsters allowed the Indian batters to dominate the proceedings by offering them pace on the balls.

“We were 10-15 runs short. But having said that, credit to the batting unit especially the opening partnership, that's the kind of start what we asked for. In hindsight, you can say that (sending Pooran at number 3) but we wanted to give Charles an opportunity, we know what Pooran can do and what kind of form he is in,” Rovman Powell said.

“We bowled with too much pace on the ball and that made it easy for the Indian batters. We have a few days gap and we have to come up with better plans,” he elaborated.

Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav, who smashed a splendid 83 off 44 deliveries, was happy to be back among the runs after multiple low scores for the Men in Blue in both the T20I and ODI formats.

“It was really important to be myself when I went in to bat in the powerplay, that's what the team management also wanted. I have practiced these strokes a lot and I love doing that,” Suryakumar Yadav, who was named the Player of the Match, stated.

Suryakumar Yadav credited his partnership with the young Tilak Verma for Team India's victory in the third T20I.

“We (himself and Tilak) have batted together for a long time, we both understand how each other bats and the way he batted, it gave me a lot of confidence. It was a great innings from him (Tilak) at the other end,” Suryakumar Yadav observed.

“It was running on the back of my mind (that India had never lost three T20Is in a row) but at the same time we spoke in the team meeting, our captain said someone needs to put their hand up and win the match, glad I was able to do that,” he signed off.