The Indian bowlers were on the money, yet again, this time after Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to bat first. Virat Kohli made a couple of changes to the playing XI. MS Dhoni pulled up sore and he was replaced by Dinesh Karthik in the side, while Hardik Pandya, who was available for selection, replaced Vijay Shankar.
Pandya made an impact in the game, first with his tight bowling which increased the pressure on Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor and then took the breath away with an absolutely stunning catch to account for the New Zealand skipper.
#teamindia #HardikPandya
— shankar more (@We_Indians_) January 28, 2019
Awesome catch ... pic.twitter.com/41Ap3cQLJP
Williamson, who was stuck at one end, felt obliged to up the scoring rate and this forced him to charge out of his batting crease to Chahal and then was not close to the pitch of the ball. However, he flicked it and the ball went flying to Hardik's left at short mid-wicket who took off and took an absolute blinder to dismiss the skipper.
Twitter took note of this effort and applauded the effort of the all-rounder who was making a comeback into the Indian side after a very tough couple of weeks.
Is it a bird ?
— Trojan_Horse (@sampath0272) January 28, 2019
Is it a plane ✈️
It’s Hardik Pandya with a stunning catch ! #NZvIND #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/9H0me5yYVL
Life brings pandya... pandya brings mistake... mistake brings maturity... maturity brings silent celebration even after that blinder take... @hardikpandya7 welcome back
— Gurvinder Singh (@singh_5412) January 28, 2019
Good to see Hardik pandya back in the blues and he has already made a flying impact ?#NZvIND pic.twitter.com/5NFlpT1Brt
— Jameshubert (@ImJames_) January 28, 2019
Hardik Pandya looks more focused. Settled celebration after the stunning catch shows the sign of maturity. We hope he continues this with the bat and ball. #INDvNZ #INDvsNZ
— Ravi Singh (@Iam07ravi) January 28, 2019
Great he is more focused now.
— Gareeb Prince ?? (@iPrince55) January 28, 2019
Diana Edulji after Hardik Pandya's catch#NZvIND pic.twitter.com/tBJVEiabd4
— Lord Commander (@Holdthedoor19) January 28, 2019
The Lagaan script was way ahead of its time.#HardikPandya #KoffeeWithKaran #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/mWKub8iwC0
— Shahid Shaikh (@thatArsenalKid) January 28, 2019
New Zealand was not very comfortable against some tight Indian bowling and the innings were meandering along. On a good batting track, they need a score on the board to challenge a dominant Indian batting order.
