Star Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya has come up with a befitting response to the critical remarks for the Indian team from the former England skipper Michael Vaughan. The 48-year-old former England veteran wrote in his column in The Daily Telegraph that the Rohit Sharma-led team India is the 'most-underperforming’ team in limited-overs cricket.
Vaughan came up with these remarks for the men in blue in the aftermath of their defeat against England by a massive margin of 10 wickets. It all happened in the second semi-final of the recently concluded 20-20 World Cup 2022.
I am just staggered by how they play T20 cricket for the talent they have - Michael Vaughan
"India is the most underperforming white-ball team in history. I am just staggered by how they play T20 cricket for the talent they have. They have the players, but just do not have the right process in place. They have to go for it. Why do they give the opposition bowlers the first five overs to bed in?” wrote Vaughan in his column.
Subsequently, the journalists happened to ask about the same to the Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya before the commencement of the three-match T20I series against New Zealand. Responding to that, Hardik reckoned that the Indian team doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone.
Here's what Hardik Pandya said in response to Michael Vaughan's remarks
"Obviously when you don't do well, people will have their opinion, which we respect. I understand people have different points of view. Being at the international level, I don't think we need to prove anything to anyone. It's a sport, you keep trying to get better, and eventually, when the result is supposed to happen it will happen. There are things we need to work on, going forward we will rectify and work on it," said Hardik ahead of the series against New Zealand.
"There is a disappointment in the T20 World Cup, but we are professionals. We need to cope with it the way we cope with our success and move forward, look to get better and rectify the mistakes we made," he added later.