Denmark’s Kaneria recently praised Hardik Pandya for leading Team India from the front in the third T20I against New Zealand in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, February 1.
The former Pakistan cricketer hailed Pandya for making the right use of Shivam Mavi in the contest as the pacer bounced back with several wickets during his double spell. It is worth mentioning that Mavi has only taken one wicket in the last two matches.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Kaneria said:
“Hardik Pandya looked fantastic. He also brought Shivam Mavi to bowl at the right time. He used it well. He is a very good captain. He is fearless and doesn’t care about winning or losing. Such a captain builds confidence in the team.”
Meanwhile, Pandya finished with figures of 4/16 and chipped in with 30 runs off 17 balls as Team India defeated the Kiwis by a huge margin of 168 runs in the series decider.
“It’s nice to see Rahul Tripathi batting” – Danish Kaneria
Denmark’s Kaneria also had special praise for Rahul Tripathi after the batsman hit 44 off 22 balls, including three sixes and four boundaries. Tripathi also shared a vital 80-run partnership with Shubman Gill to revive the men in blue from 1.7.
“It was very nice to see Rahul Tripathi batting. He was in full confidence,” he said.
Kaneria concluded by crediting the team management for sticking with Tripathi and Gill despite their failures in the first two games as the duo delivered the decisive run.
“When you trust your players, they will definitely do it. You played Gill and Tripathi and they were the best,” he added.
Apart from Tripathi, Gill scored an unbeaten 126 runs off just 63 balls, including seven sixes and 12 fours. His performance helped Team India post a massive 234/4 in the allotted 20 overs.
The 2-1 series win helped Hardik Pandya win his third consecutive series as T20I skipper. Team India earlier beat Sri Lanka 2-1 at home. Last year they also won in New Zealand with 1-0.
The action will now shift to the four-match series at home against Australia. The first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will begin in Nagpur on Thursday, February 9.
India’s squad for the first two Tests against Australia: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (ie), Ishan Kishan (tjd), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat and Suryakumar Yadav.