Twitter reactions on Rayudu-Pandya powering India to 252: Twitter was elated at watching the middle-order batsman rise to the occasion.
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During the fifth ODI of the ongoing India’s tour of New Zealand at Wellington, India middle-order batsman Ambati Rayudu played an outstanding innings, scoring his 10th ODI half-century in a much-needed situation for his team. Other than him, all-rounder Hardik Pandya hit the ball to all corners of the park to propel India to score 252-10 in 49.5 overs.
Coming in to bat at No. 4 in the sixth over, Rayudu soon saw India being reduced from 12-2 to 18-4. In what appeared to a replica of what had happened in the fourth ODI at Hamilton, a determined Rayudu made sure that his team at least posts a respectable total.
Initiating the rescue act, Rayudu shared a 98-run partnership for the fifth wicket with all-rounder Vijay Shankar. While Rayudu took some extra balls in the partnership, it didn’t come out as an issue given the nature of the situation he was batting in.
After Shankar (45) got out in the 32nd over, Rayudu took the onus on himself. On the last ball of the 35th over, Rayudu stepped out to hit a Colin de Grandhomme delivery for a four through the square leg region to bring up his half-century. The right-hand batsman was then seen playing some aerial shots in a bid to increase the run rate.
India would have wanted Rayudu to finish the innings but that wasn’t the case as he was eventually dismissed in the 44rd over when his attempt to play another big shot off Matt Henry saw him hitting the ball straight to Colin Munro. Rayudu ended up scoring 90 (113) with the help of eight fours and four sixes.
On the other hand, Pandya came in to bat at No. 8 after Rayudu departed. Without wasting much time, Pandya put his best foot forward. He targeted inexperienced New Zealand leg-spinned Todd Astle, hitting him for three consecutive sixes in the 47th over.
Pandy followed it up with smashing Trent Boult for a six and James Neesham for a six and two fours in the subsequent overs. Before getting out on the last ball of the penultimate over, Pandya scored a quickfire 45 (22) with the help of two fours and five sixes.
While Rayudu and Pandya’s innings spoke highly about their importance in the Indian squad for ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, it also saw a lot of praiseworthy comments come their way on social media platform Twitter. Read some of them below:
