Hardik Pandya narrowly survived a mighty blow from Bhuvaneshwar Kumar while batting against Australia in the second ODI of the bilateral series at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on September 21. Pandya was lucky enough to remain uninjured after the ball hit the grill of his helmet. He couldn’t repeat the batting heroics of the first ODI and ended up scoring 2o runs off 26 balls.
The incident happened in the 47th over of the first inning when Bhuvneshwar Kumar was batting while Pandya was at the non-striker’s end. To a delivery by Nathan Coulter-Nile, Bhuvneshwar smashed the ball towards long-on while Pandya came in the way of the ball and got hit so hard that he fell down on the ground. The impact was so strong that the all-rounder remained laid on the ground for a quite long. Team India’s physio Patrick Farhart ran into the ground to check and know what actually happened to Pandya.
WHACK – Pandya Knocked Down! https://t.co/cnug4HJR5F #BCCI
— Cricket-atti (@cricketatti) September 21, 2017
Even Nathan Coulter-Nile watched Pandya falling on the ground and his expressions clearly said that he would also have realised how hard the ball hit the batsman. Meanwhile, Aussie Skipper Steven Smith and other players checked whether he is all right.
Nathan Coulter-Nile’s reaction after the ball hit Hardik Pandya/ Photo: TV Grab
That was the time when India were at 231/6 and they still needed some more runs to be added in the rest of the overs. As soon Pandya got up and stood at the non-striker’s crease, the Indian fans were relieved and the entire scene looked as if Undertaker is getting back on the ring from death.
Earlier India won the toss and elected to bat first. After Rohit Sharma’s early dismissal, Ajinkya Rahane and Virat balanced the innings superbly and scored their respective half-centuries. Despite rain affecting the game later, the Indians ould put 252 runs on the board. Jasprit Bumrah hit a boundary for the first time in an ODI inning and scored his career best, 10 runs off 6 balls.
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