‘Kaam aisa karo ki 4 log gaali de’ – Fans react as Hardik Pandya’s winning six denies Tilak Varma his second half-century in T20Is

Team India avoided a series defeat in the third T20I against West Indies with a seven-wicket win over the hosts. Hardik Pandya remained unbeaten on 20 off 15 and Tilak Varma remained unbeaten on 49 off 37. However, Suryakumar Yadav remained the star of the show for India with 83 off 44, including ten fours and four sixes as they chased down the target of 160 with 13 balls to spare.

Although it was a convincing win for Team India, the openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill failed to set any foundation for the chase. While the opening stand was just for six runs, both openers were dismissed cheaply with Jaiswal falling at 1 off 2 balls and Shubman Gill falling at 6 off 11. However, that was not the most criticised aspect of the game.

Suryakumar Yadav with 83 off 44 remained the ‘Player of the Match’

Notably, India needed two runs to win from 14 balls with Hardik Pandya on strike and Tilak Varma unbeaten at 49. Pandya received a delivery bowled in the slot by Rovman Powell and he cleared the long on fence. Thus, Tilak Varma had to be satisfied with not completing a much-deserved half-century which would have been his second half-century in T20Is since making his debut in the first game of the series against West Indies.

The Indian T20I skipper was slammed by fans on Twitter for not letting Varma complete his century and they compared him to MS Dhoni’s gesture of letting Virat Kohli hit the winning runs in the 2014 T20 World Cup game against South Africa.

Earlier, the hosts won the toss and elected to bat first. They had a good start with a 55-run opening stand between Brandon King (42 off 42) and Kyle Mayers (25 off 20). Following these two, only skipper Rovman Powell had a considerable contribution with 40 off 19 deliveries, including one four and three sixes. Kuldeep Yadav returned with figures of 3/28 from his four overs while Axar Patel and Mukesh Kumar scalped one each. Talking of West Indies’ bowling, Alzarri Joseph scalped two whereas Obed McCoy got the breakthrough with Jaiswal’s wicket.

Here’s how fans reacted: