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'Credit stealer aur smuggler hai ye' - Fans troll Hardik Pandya for denying Tilak Varma his T20I fifty in 3rd T20I against West Indies

India T20I skipper Hardik Pandya hit a winning six when the team needed two runs to win and Tilak Varma needed one for a half-century

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Rohit Kumar
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'Credit stealer aur smuggler hai ye' - Fans troll Hardik Pandya for denying Tilak Varma his T20I fifty in 3rd T20I against West Indies

Hardik Pandya, Tilak Varma (Image Credit: Twitter)

India skipper Hardik Pandya might be having mixed feelings after the team won the third T20I against West Indies. The Men In Blue have managed to keep the series alive after losing the first two games. It was important for the team to win this game to go 1-2 in Florida, USA. The last two T20Is will be played in the venue.

Meanwhile, after the game, Pandya has been bashed by the fans for denying Tilak Varma his second T20I fifty in his third game for the national side. The Asian side needed two runs to win when the India skipper decided to hit a six off his opposite number, Rovman Powell. At the time, Varma was batting on 49 and got stranded on the same score.

Hitting a six wouldn't have increased any Net Run Rate: Aakash Chopra

In multi-nation tournaments, teams, who get the opportunity to finish the game early, do so to improve their NRR. However, the same doesn't apply in bilateral cricket. The same thing was pointed out by Aakash Chopra, former India opening batter.

β€œHardik comes to bat, tells him it's important to remain not out, don't get carried away. Then Hardik hits aggressive hits... you don't need NRR, it would've made no difference. He told Tilak to go easy, but tried to hit big shots himself. You needed 2 runs off 13 balls, and he smashed a six. I'm sure they want to build a culture that doesn't care about individual milestones. But even a not out doesn't really matter here, even if you were out there, you still had 12 balls there to score 2 runs. Tilak was denied a chance to score a fifty. That's just my opinion, though,” said the former opener said as qouted by Hindustan Times.

The fourth T20I will also be a must-win for India as another win will level the series and set it up for the fifth game.

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Hardik Pandya Tilak Verma