Ind vs Aus: My game is always around confidence which I carry, says Pandya
Dec 06, 2020
Sydney [Australia], December 6 : After playing a match-winning knock of 42 off 22 balls against Australia in the second T20I, India all-rounder Hardik Pandya said his game is always around the confidence he carries with him on the field.
Pandya and Shreyas Iyer accumulated 37 runs from the final three overs as India defeated Australia by six wickets at the Sydney Cricket Ground. With this win, India gained an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Batting first, Australia once again piled on the misery on Indian bowlers and the side posted a total of 194 owing to knocks of 58 and 46 from Matthew Wade and Steve Smith. No Indian bowler apart from T Natarajan was able to leave his mark in the match and dropping catches did not help the visitor's cause.
India did manage to remain on track throughout the whole chase as Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli played knocks of 52 and 40 respectively. In the final overs, Hardik (42*) and Shreyas (12*) managed to hit big shots to take Men in Blue over the line by six wickets and two balls to spare.
The right-handed batsman added that he learned from his past mistakes and used the prior experience of chasing monumental targets.
"It is very simple. I like to look at the scoreboard and play so that I know which bowlers to target. I have been in these situations many times and I learned from my mistakes in the past. My game is always around the confidence which I carry, it has that fine line where I back myself and not become overconfident. I always remember all those times when we chased big totals and it helps," Pandya said after the match.
Pandya, who was awarded Player of the Match, further said Natarajan deserved the accolade for showing great character in the match as he finished with the figures of 2-20 in his four overs.
"They were batting really well and we wanted to be positive and special mention to Natarajan as well. I thought he should be the Man of the Match because the bowlers struggled here and he had a really good game," the all-rounder added.
Chasing 195, India got off to a brisk start as openers Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul put on 56 runs in the first five overs. However, it was Andrew Tye who provided the much-needed breakthrough to Australia as he dismissed Rahul (30) in the sixth over.
Skipper Kohli then joined Dhawan in the middle and the duo put on 39 runs for the second wicket, but during the stint of this partnership, the run-rate slowed down considerably, and in trying to look for a release shot, Dhawan (52) ended up losing his wicket to Adam Zampa in the 12th over. Sanju Samson played a brief knock of 15 runs from 10 balls, but in trying to increase the pace, he lost his wicket to Mitchell Swepson, reducing India to 120/3 in the 14th over.
With India needing 46 runs from the final overs, Daniel Sams got the key wicket of Kohli (40) in the 16th over, pegging the visitors back. In the 18th over, Iyer and Pandya managed to get 12 runs and as a result, the visitors needed 25 runs off the final two overs. In the final over, Pandya and Shreyas managed to get the job done and as a result, India achieved a victory by six wickets.
Earlier, Matthew Wade and Steve Smith played knocks of 58 and 46 respectively to take Australia's total to 194/5 in the allotted twenty overs.
The third and final T20I game will be played at Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday.