Finisher is finished: Hardik Pandya faces flak for Rajkot batting flop show

India's successful run in the ongoing T20I series against England came to a sudden halt after they faced a shocking 26-run defeat in the third match. Playing in Rajkot, the hosts restricted England to 171/9 after opting to bowl first. However, in the chase, India kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and could manage only 145/9, falling short of 26 runs. The entire batting lineup of India miserably failed to put up a good show as Hardik Pandya's 35-ball-40-run knock became their only saving grace.

As the scoreline of the five-match series now reads 2-1 in the favour of the hosts, former India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel slammed Hardik for his slow approach in the match.

"One cannot take 20-25 balls to get set in a T20I. Can't take 20-25 balls to get set. I understand taking your time but you have to keep rotating the strike. Hardik may have ended up with 40 off 35, but there were a lot of dot balls at the start of his innings," said Parthiv in the post-match show on Star Sports.