Ab de villiers take on Pandya's act during 3rd T20I match

Despite winning the 3rd T20I against the West Indies, India’s T20I captain Hardik Pandya is facing a lot of criticism for finishing the match that denied the youngster Tilak Varma his fifty as the left-handed batter was on 49. India won the match with 7 wickets, and the credit should go to Tilak Varma and Surya Kumar Yadav, as both stabilized the situation when India was in trouble after losing 2 wickets quickly. Both showed fighting spirit and charged on bowlers. Tilak Varma started quick when he came to the crease but slowed down to let Surya take the charge as he was in good touch that day and ended up scoring 83 runs in 44 balls.

Tilak Varma, since his debut in international cricket, put on a promising performance whenever he entered the crease, as the left-handed batter scored 39 runs on his debut, 51 in the next match, and 49 in the third. If Hardik Pandya had allowed him to score the winning runs, he could have scored his second fifty, but Harsha Bhogle, while expressing his opinion, put the team performance above the individual score as cricket is a team sport.

I am puzzled by the discussion around Tilak Varma missing out on a 50. It isn’t a landmark, in fact other than a century (which is rare), there are no landmarks in T20 cricket. We are far too obsessed with individual achievement within a team sport. I don’t believe 50s should be recorded in individual stats in T20 cricket. If you have made enough runs quickly enough (avg and SR), that is all that matters.”
Harsha Bhogle tweeted

South African legend Ab de Villiers was quick to reply and tweeted.

“Thank you thank you thank you. Finally someone says it!””
Ab de Villiers

As of now, there are no official statements from Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma on this issue, and the team is focusing on the next game, which is going to be a crucial one to keep India’s hopes alive in the series.