I’ll Give Equal Importance To My Batting, Bowling: Hardik After 1st T20I Win
Mumbai: Following his 4/33 and 51 in India’s 50-run win against England in the first T20I, India all-rounder Hardik Pandya said he’d give equal importance to his batting and bowling.
Hardik smashed 51 runs and went on to scalp four wickets to provide Team India with a win by 50 runs against England in the first T20I of the three-match series, here at Southampton on Thursday.
“I will give equal importance to my batting and bowling today. That 50 was also important because we lost wickets, but we kept the pace and got a good score,” Hardik said at the post-match press conference.
“But the bowling will get more credit because that spell got us into the game and made it difficult for England to stay in the game,” he added. The all-rounder also said that he is not thinking much about his future as he is currently focusing on his game for Team India.
“Obviously, right now I am not thinking much about what I will play in the future and all that. Right now, I am focusing on more and more games, I am available for India, and that will be my intention. And talking about today’s performance, obviously, it is always good to perform when your team requires and when your team wins,” said Hardik.
“For me, it was easy, doing what my team wanted and doing what I know. I believe that hard work pays off, my point is to prepare well, but the result is under my control. Right now, all are coming off, today is a good day, and tomorrow might be bad. So, you don’t know, it is all about working hard, life goes on,” he added
Debutant Arshdeep Singh and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal took two wickets each, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel took a wicket each to restrict England to 148.
Talking about the match, Hardik Pandya’s all-around performance took India’s total to 198/8 in the first innings. Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Hooda also scored 24, 39 and 33 runs respectively.
For England, Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan scalped two wickets each, while Topley, Tymal Mills, and Parkinson took one wicket each. Later, debutant Arshdeep Singh and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal scalped two wickets each while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel took one a piece and restricted England to 148.
Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan were the picks among the batters as they scored 36 and 26* runs, respectively. Both the teams will be squaring off for the second T20I on Saturday at Birmingham.
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