'Glad he has faith': Hardik Pandya gives a hilarious response to Ravi Shastri's question

India on Tuesday defeated New Zealand in the first ODI of their three-match series in Indore. India won the match by a massive margin of 90 runs to secure the three-match contest 3-0. Shardul Thakur played a crucial role with both the bat and the ball to help India win the match. He was later named the player of the match for his all-round effort as he picked up three wickets and also scored 25 runs during India's innings.

After the match, all-rounder Hardik Pandya heaped praise on Shardul and thanked the Mumbai cricketer for listening to him. Speaking to Ravi Shastri in his post-match interview, Hardik said that he was glad Shardul showed faith in him and let him dictate the terms when they were batting together in the first innings. 

"Luckily, I was glad Shardul has faith in me and lets me dictate the terms inside. But he always has his point and I always try to listen, but at the end of the day, because of his faith in me, he does what I exactly want. So, in our partnership, it was more combined but I'm grateful to Shardul for listening to me!” Pandya said in his post-match interview. 

Meanwhile, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma also lauded Shardul after India won the third ODI on Tuesday. Rohit called Shardul a "magician" with the ball when asked about the latter's performance in the match.  "Shardul has been doing this for a while, so some people call him 'Magician'," Rohit said in his post-match interview. Shardul important wickets of Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham, and Glenn Phillips.

India vs New Zealand, 3rd ODI

Coming back to the match, New Zealand skipper Tom Latham won the toss and elected to field first at the Holkar Stadium. Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill opened the batting for India, forging a massive 212-run partnership. Both batsmen scored a century each to help India cross the 200-run mark without losing a single wicket. This was also the second-highest opening partnership for India in ODI cricket. While Rohit scored 101 off 85 balls, Gill smashed 112 off 78 balls. Hardik Pandya and Virat Kohli also chipped in with 54 and 36 runs, respectively. India posted a total of 385/9 in 50 overs. 

In the second innings, New Zealand were looking good to chase down the target with Devon Conway hitting a brilliant century. However, Conway did not receive much help from the other end as wickets kept falling at regular intervals. Kuldeep Yadav and Shardul Thakur played a crucial role in putting constant pressure on the visitors as they picked up three wickets each. After Conway was dismissed for 138 runs by Umran Malik, New Zealand's batting faltered and they were bowled out for 295 runs. Shardul was named the player of the match for his match-winning figures of 3/45 in 6 overs. 

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