Team India trumped England in the third ODI to lay their hands on the trophy with a series win yet again after winning the T20I series. Hardik Pandya got into the ‘battle of egos’ with Liam Livingstone in his second spell and turned out to be the winner as he claimed the crucial wicket of the English batsman with his ploy of bowling short deliveries one after the other.
Hardik Pandya wins the ‘battle of egos’
Along with other few things, the biggest takeaway for the Indian team on the England tour has been the resurgence of Hardik Pandya who has stormed back into the team after being out for a long time owing to his back injury. The all-rounder turned out to be a match-winner for the team in the third ODI as he claimed 4 English wickets, one of which came after a ‘battle of egos’ between Hardik and Livingstone.
Hardik Pandya executed his ploy of bowling short deliveries to the English batsmen extremely well and reaped the benefits of the same. The Indian all-rounder kept hitting the deck and troubled the English batsmen. It was in his second spell when Liam Livingstone tried to take on the bowler and hit two sixes in back-to-back overs by Pandya. Both Hardik and Livingstone didn’t step back from their attacking intent and it was Hardik who won the ‘battle of egos’ in the 37th over.
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Hardik Pandya came on to bowl the 37th over of the match and Livingstone hit the first ball of the over in the stands. Hardik continued his short ball ploy and when Livingstone tried to pull the third ball of the over for a maximum, he was caught by Ravindra Jadeja who was patrolling at deep square leg. Hardik Pandya looked pleased as he won the ‘battle of egos’ against Livingstone who could have proved to be quite dangerous for the Indian team.