Hardik Pandya dropped catch today: Pandya drops Ben Stokes as England get massive reprieve in Pune ODI

Hardik Pandya dropped catch: The Indian all-rounder let down his teammates and fans to drop a sitter offered by his English counterpart.

During the third ODI of the ongoing England’s tour of India in Pune, India all-rounder Hardik Pandya erred on the field to hand a massive reprieve to England all-rounder Ben Stokes.

It all happened on the fourth delivery of the fifth over when Stokes unsuccessfully played an aerial shot against India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. With the right-arm bowler swinging the ball at will, all Stokes could do was sky the ball towards Pandya at mid-off.

Pandya, who covered some ground to get himself in a comfortable position, shocked one and all by dropping an absolute sitter at the Maharshtra Cricket Association Stadium.

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With Bhuvneshwar already sending back the English opening batsmen, Stokes’ wicket would have handed a huge advantage to the home team. Chasing a 330-run target, losing the likes of Jason Roy (14), Jonny Bairstow (1) and Stokes in the first five overs would’ve put the visitors in a spot of bother.

After England captain Jos Buttler won the toss and chose to field, English bowlers bundled out India for 329 in 48.2 overs. Despite losing wickets in clusters, India scored a competitive total on the back of quickfire individual half-centuries from Rishabh Pant (78), Shikhar Dhawan (67) and Hardik Pandya (64).

Hardik Pandya dropped catch today

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