Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya landed a timely blow for India in their second World Cup 2023 match against Afghanistan in Delhi on Wednesday. Pandya, who turned 30 on Wednesday, dismissed Afghanistan batter Azmatullah Omarzai in the 35th over, giving the latter a fiery send off. Omarzai stitiched a 121-run stand with captain Hashmatullah Shahidi before Pandya gave India a much-needed reprieve. The Indian vice-captain couldn't control his emotions as he celebrated with a wild outburst while staring at Omarzai.
Hardik's wild gesture took internet by storm.
Here are the reaction:
This was Hardik's second wicket of the match, having dismissed Rahmanullah Gurbaz earlier.
Earlier, Afghanistan elected to bat first at New Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium which witnessed a World Cup record 754 runs scored in the previous match when South Africa posted 428 and defeated Sri Lanka.
They lost their top three batsmen, Ibrahim Zadran (22), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (21) and then Rahmat Shah (16) to slip to 63-3.
Shahidi, a left-hand batsman, and Omarzai then rebuilt the innings in a century stand to thwart the Indian attack and pull the total to 173-3 in 33 overs.
Omarzai reached his second ODI fifty and soon Shahidi smashed Hardik Pandya for four to bring up his half-century.
The Afghans lost their opening match to Bangladesh while tournament favourites India began with a victory over five-time winners Australia.
India XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
Afghanistan XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi.