"He should have taken a single in last over": Nehra stated his opinion on Pandya's denial

Dinesh Karthik was denied strike in the last over of the first T20I match between India and South Africa. The former Indian pace Ashish Nehra has spoken up about the incident and has stated that Hardik Pandya should have taken the single as Dinesh Karthik is an accomplished batter. Indian T20 League champion skipper made a grand return to international cricket with a blistering inning of 31 runs off just 12 balls.

Proteas pacer, Anrich Nortje scalped the wicket of Indian skipper Rishabh Pant on the first ball in the last over of the first innings. Then Karthik went into the middle and took a single to hand over the strike to Hardik. The 28-year-old allrounder smashed a six in the long-off region on the fourth ball but later he refused to run for a single on the penultimate delivery of the last over. Eventually, he missed the last delivery and could score only two runs.

To note, Karthik concluded IPL 2022 with the best strike rate. He delivered some amazing and stellar performances in the role of a finisher. Pandya had to face the heat of criticism from Indian fans over social media for his denial of taking a single in the last over.

Gujarat’s coach in IPL 2022 and Pandya’s franchise colleague Ashish Nehra have also talked about this incident in which Pandya is being indicted for not taking a single.

Hardik Pandya was supposed to take a single on that penultimate delivery of last over – Ashish Nehra

“He should have taken a single in that final over. Dinesh Karthik was at the other end, it wasn’t me.” Ashish Nehra was quoted as saying in CricBuzz.

India posted a massive total of 211 runs in the 20 overs but still, they couldn’t defend it at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium. Ishan Kishan scored a half-century while small cameos from Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shreyas Iyer also played a vital role in building the Indian inning.

South Africa easily chased the target on the loss of just 3 wickets with the heroics of David Miller and Rassie van der Dussen, eventually, the visitors claimed an easy win by 7 wickets over India in the first T20I of the five-match series.