Team India’s star all-rounder Hardik Pandya is one of the most loved cricketer across the globe. However, cricket fans were left puzzled after seeing Hardik in Team India’s dugout during the second test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi as the all-rounder doesn’t feature in the longest format of the game these days.
Cricket fans confuse India’s coaching staff as Hardik Pandya in the test squad
Hardik Pandya last represented the Indian team in the longest format of the game in August 2018 against England. After 2018 the star all-rounder suffered a back injury due to which he wasn’t able to bowl regularly and lost his place on the test side.
Cricket fans are eagerly waiting to see Pandya make a comeback in the test format as well after a 4-year hiatus. However, they were left confused on the third day of India’s second test against Australia in Delhi as Hardik Pandya was seen along with Suryakumar Yadav cheering for the Indian bowlers.
A picture of Hardik Pandya went viral across social media platforms in which he can be seen sitting with Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav and celebrating the wicket of Aussie batter Matt Renshaw who was dismissed at a score of 2 by Ravichandran Ashwin.
Twitter user Cricketman2 posted the picture of Hardik Pandya along with the caption,” Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav reaction when Ravi Ashwin picked up Matthew Renshaw.”
Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav's reaction when Ravi Ashwin gets Matt Renshaw and their review was lost. pic.twitter.com/GYtv48mBKL
— Tanuj Singh (@ImTanujSingh) February 19, 2023
Twitter users were puzzled at the picture as they knew Hardik wasn’t the part of Indian test squad. After closely looking at the picture, it was clarified that the man cheering for the Indian team with Suryakumar Yadav was one of the members of Team India’s support staff named Daya who looked like Pandya in the picture.
.@imVkohli & @ShubmanGill reflect on the efforts put behind the scenes, courtesy this trio of throwdown specialists 👏 👏
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 16, 2023
You wouldn't want to miss this sneak peek into #TeamIndia's backstage heroes 👍 👍 – By @ameyatilak
Special Feature 🎥 🔽 #INDvSLhttps://t.co/SFYQKgKkW2 pic.twitter.com/zY0g2pjJHI
Daya was recently seen in a video posted by the official Instagram handle of BCCI in which Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill appreciated his efforts as the throwdown specialist as he has helped the Indian batters a lot preparing them to face opponent pace bowlers.
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Meanwhile, the Indian bowlers did a great job on Day 3 of the second test to pull things back in Team India’s favour as they bowled out the Australian team for a mere 113 runs. While Ravichandran Ashwin took 3 wickets, it was Ravindra Jadeja’s breathtaking spell which completely blew away the Australian batting line-up as he scalped 7 wickets in just 12 overs.
