India’s all-rounder Hardik Pandya is the new cricket sensation of the country. Taking the cricket world by storm, he has been impressing and winning hearts of cricket fans and critics with his game. The man in form had shown his skills recently in limited-overs series against Australia.
In the first One-day International (ODI) between India and Australia, in Chennai, the all-rounder played one of the finest innings in the shorter format, scoring a career-best 83 off 66 balls. Eventually, he won the Man of the Match for his outstanding batting and bowling against Australia.
It was Pandya’s 118-run partnership with former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (79 off 88 balls) for the sixth wicket. However, India beat Australia by 26 runs via D/L method. But Hardik’s exploits became a Pakistani journalist’s nightmare.
While his performance got him Man of the Match (MoM) award, his comparison with England all-rounder Ben Stokes post the match didn’t go down well with a Pakistan journalist.
Fazeela Saba, who became a fan favorite following a photo-op with West Indian Darren Sammy, took to Twitter to belittle Pandya. “Pandy(a) undoubtedly is the upcoming multitasked player in cricket but his comparison with Ben Stokes by Indian media seems unjustified,” she wrote.
Pandy undoubtedly is the upcoming multitasked player in cricket but his comparison with Ben Stokes by Indian media seems unjustified
— Fazeela Saba (@FazeelaSaba1) September 18, 2017
The tweet irked the fans so much that they brutally trolled Saba for her views and for misspelling Pandya’s name as ‘Pandy’.
Twitter Reactions:
What about Ahmed Shahzad comparing himself to Virat once ? Did you tweet that day ? Pandy(A) A is missing because A for AKAL
— Ritesh Bisht (@RiteshBisht01) September 19, 2017
Killing spinners like ohhhh…imad shadab pushkumara now jampa..6666
— Shorya,,🇮🇳 (@valorbharat) September 19, 2017
This is your thought only mam. Hardik pandya is best allrounder than Ben stokes
— K.Senthil Karmegam (@SenthilKarmegam) September 19, 2017
becoz pakistan dont have player like pandya 😂😂..u can just dreamed of becomming player like kohli and pandya and bla bla😂😂😂
— virat kohli (@viratko92004798) September 19, 2017
Pandy what the hell pandya madam first of all spelling seekho…And then criticise…
— Naveen Gavvala (@NGavvala) September 18, 2017
Yes..u r right fazeela..Pandya is much better than Stokes 😊
— DR. SOUMEN ROY (@DrSoumen777) September 19, 2017
Cant even spell Pandya @hardikpandya7 doesn’t need to justify anything.But it is a very good try to make your tweet famous #cheapjournalism
— Sai rasam (@sai_rasam) September 19, 2017
It’s Pandya not Pandy ! Lol 😀
— Yashwant Singh Chauhan (@chauhanrajput19) September 19, 2017
Are u totally out of it
I donno why everytime u poke ur nose in everything, Pandaya is faar better than stokes— Priyanshu Mishra (@ppraina444) September 19, 2017
tm Pakistani ka jindgi Indian se comparison krte hi guzar jani hai 😂😁
— Rahul Yadav🇮🇳 (@imrahulyaadav) September 19, 2017
Hardik Pandya even thanked his fans for their “love, support and positivity”. Impressed by Pandya’s great show at the match, captain Virat Kohli praised him openly and wholeheartedly saying that Hardik Pandya’s knock was the game changer.
It’s worth noting that Virat Kohli has said that Pandya can become India’s Ben Stokes, who is regarded as the best all-rounder currently. Besides that, many fans compared the Indian youngster to the England star, thanks to their similar approach to the game.
India currently lead the five-match series 1-0 and will next play Australia on Thursday, September 21 in Kolkata in the second ODI.