Pandya explains how he plans a successful run-chase
Looking back at his innings, Pandya explained how he approached the chase, saying he’s learned from his mistakes in the past.
Hero of India's second T20I, Hardik Pandya has revealed how he dissected India's stiff chase of 195 to win the match for his team by six wickets. Pandya hit an unbeaten 42 off 22 balls with three fours and two sixes and knocked off the total with India requiring 25 off the final two overs. The knock promises to improve Pandya's reputation as a batsman, that was already on an upward curve following knocks of 90 and 92 not out in the ODI.
But his epic chase on Sunday is a true testament to Pandya's pure batting skills. Looking back at his innings, Pandya explained how he approached the chase, saying he's learned from his mistakes in the past. Pandya has played such knocks many times for his IPL franchise Mumbai Indians, highlighting his focus is to break the equation in a chase.
"I really like to see the scorecard and play. It lets you know the kind of shots and options you have. I have been in these situations many times and I learnt 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," Pandya said after the match.
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"I always remember all those times when we chased big totals and it helps. In T20s you actually have more time than you think. If we need 70-80 odd in 30 balls, I don't look at the whole thing and I break it down to 12 balls and focus more on the process than the end result. They were batting really well and we wanted to be positive."
Pandya reserved his best for the final two overs. With his partner Shreyas Iyer knocking a six and boundary off the 18th over helping, Pandya missed two balls from Andrew Tye in the penultimate over. That is when the batsman went for a change of bats. What followed was back-to-back boundaries off Tye and two sixes off three balls in the final over from debutant Daniel Sams to give India a thrilling win.
"I felt (we were) two good hits (away), quite happy. More than the six I wanted to finish the game. I don't like the game going till the last ball, I like to finish the game early," Pandya said.
"I was just going to whack the ball anyway (smiles). The whole five games, I've been trying to figure out which bat to bat with. I broke the bat with which I was playing for three years. This one looks alright."
