Last Updated on 4 years by Charbel Coorey

Hardik Pandya played today the way MS Dhoni used to in the past: Justin Langer | Justin Langer full of praise for Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya has been outstanding in the ongoing Australia-India series. After his brilliant 90 in the first ODI, he combined with Ravindra Jadeja for a match-winning partnership. In the second T20I, he gave glimpses of MS Dhoni’s style of winning the chasing games in the past. MS Dhoni had announced his retirement in 2020 but his charismatic performances from the past linger in the thoughts of cricket fans.

In the last chase by the Indian team, things looked tricky when Pandya came in to bat but his 42 out off 22 balls helped to win the series by six wickets. Talking about his performance in a virtual press conference, coach Justin Langer said that Pandya played dangerously just MS Dhoni used to play in the past.

“It was an incredible spectacle of a game. We know how dangerous Pandya is. In the past we had MS Dhoni and the way he played today,” Langer said at the virtual post-match press conference. “He has played really well all summer so, obviously, it was a great innings in the end there”, he said.

Langer also pointed out that the Indian team is playing with a lot of T20 players in their ranks which gave the team an edge. He also went ahead and praised captain Kohli’s 40 runs in just 24 balls. “Some of Virat (Kohli’s) shots, I have said for years he (Kohli) is the best player I have probably ever seen. Some of the shots he played tonight were extraordinary and (they got) good opening partnership and got over the line,” the former Australia opening batsman said.

In the post-match presentation, Hardik also confessed how he is trying to win the matches and act as a perfect finisher. “During the lockdown, I wanted to focus on finishing games where it matters the most. It doesn’t matter whether I score or don’t score more runs,” Pandya said at the post-match press conference.

““I have been in these situations many times and I learned 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. I always remember all those times when we chased big totals and it helps”, he added.

Written by Anjali Jha. Follow Anjali on Twitter today.