Watch: Rishabh Pant's million-dollar selfless gesture for Hardik Pandya after sacrificing his wicket in India vs England
During the course of his knock, fans got a chance to witness incredible team bonding as wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant sacrificed his wicket to let Hardik Pandya continue his wrath on the opposition bowlers.
India got off to a slow start after they were invited to bat first by England skipper Jos Buttler in the T20 World Cup semifinal in Adelaide on Thursday. KL Rahul, who had smashed consecutive half-centuries prior to the match, failed to make an impact following which the pair of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma added 47 runs for the second wicket. (Follow: India vs England Live Score, T20 World Cup 2022)
Rohit was eventually dismissed for 27 off 28 balls, and the man in red-hot form Suryakumar Yadav was packed for 14 off 10 balls. Suryakumar's dismissal saw India get reduced to 75/3 in 11.2 overs, and the onus to guide the team to a respectable total fell on Kohli and Hardik Pandya.
The pair did exactly the same, as Kohli went to smash another half-century, his fourth in the tournament. However, it was Pandya, who made the maximum impact with his powerful strokeplay.
The all-rounder went to smash 63 off 33 balls, before getting hit-wicket in the final ball of the Indian inning. His herculean effort drove India to 168/6 in 20 overs, which at one point looked like an uphill task.
During the course of his knock, fans also got a chance to witness some incredible team bonding as wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant sacrificed his wicket to let Pandya continue his wrath on the opposition bowlers.
The incident took place in the third delivery of the final over bowled by Chris Jordan. With India batting at 158/4 at that moment, and Pandya being the set batter, the all-rounder rushed to the other end, trying to sneak a quick single despite the ball being in Buttler's gloves.
Buttler didn't hit the stump, but the ball went straight to Jordan as Pandya kept running, and asked Pant to throw his wicket. Pant without any hesitation obliged to his partner's call, and what followed next was even delightful. He walked back to the dugout with a smile, and gave a thumbs-up to Pandya.
Here is the video of the moment:
Pant, who was included in the playing XI ahead of Dinesh Karthik, scored six off four balls. Meanwhile, England have got off to a flying start and have accumulated 33 runs after three overs. Jos Buttler and Alex Hales are leading the run chase for England.
