Picture Credit: Disney+ Hotstar
India's match against Afghanistan started on Wednesday with the Men in Blue losing the toss yet again. While it was a hat-trick of loss for Virat Kohli in the coin flip, India openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul made sure that nothing like the previous two games happens in the match against Afghanistan. The duo amassed 140 runs for the first wicket before the likes of Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant could take most out of it and help India post over 210 runs.
While Rohit and Rahul hit back at the critics with sensational knocks of 74 off 47 and 69 off 48, respectively, it was the turn of Hardik and Pant later on to show everyone once again what the two are capable of. Despite so much of dominance on the ground, one thing bothered the Indian dressing room for a moment in the 19th over.
Notably, on the first ball of the penultimate over bowled by Naveen-ul-Haq, Hardik mistimed a shot and the ball went high in air in the mid-off region. While Naveen had deceived the Indian all-rounder with the ball, Najibullah Zadran failed to take the catch. Sensing an opportunity to run the second, Hardik returned back to complete a couple of runs. However, he had to hurry to save his wicket. In a rush of making it to the next side, Hardik failed to spot that Afghanistan wicketkeeper Mohammad Shahzad was also going in the same direction where Hardik was reaching. Shahzad did the same mistake as of Hardik and the duo collided with both of them falling on the ground.
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The collision didn't seem serious as Hardik continued batting despite it. He scored unbeaten 35 off just 13 balls to propel India to the best total of ongoing mega event. Hardik's knock was laced with 6 fours and 2 sixes.
Hardik's fitness concerns
The Indian team supporters must have had their heart on their mouth when Hardik Pandya collided with Mohammad Shahzad. This is because the Indian all-rounder is already batting with the injury concerns. His recovering back has put him to limited bowling, while his recent shoulder injury was another case to worry about.