Watch: Hardik Pandya speaks on learning from MS Dhoni after helping India beat Pakistan

With Pakistan giving a good fight, India took the game deep and clinched the Asia Cup 2022 campaign opener with Hardik Pandya hitting a six in the last over. India and Hardik Pandya’s strategy to take the game till the last over and complete a successful chase had the MS Dhoni stamp all over it.

After the match, Hardik Pandya, who scored 33 not out from 17 balls, spoke on how he took inspiration from Dhoni to pull off the chase against Pakistan in Dubai.

Watch: Hardik Pandya recalls injury-forced exit in 2018 Asia Cup

“I try to keep it as simple as possible. That’s what I saw in Mahi Bhai (MS Dhoni). Whenever I played with him, I just observed and asked questions as well. Not only him but whosoever I played with, I tried to learn as much as possible. Even in life, if you want to make a decision and if you are calm and are able to assess the situation better, then you can decide better,” Hardik Pandya told Star Sports.

“I try to implement the same thing in my batting, to analyse the available options and play accordingly. This game started for me from the 15th over. I knew the death bowler in on debut, there would be a bit of up and down in his execution. So, even if there is a dot ball, it won’t be a problem because there’s a left-arm spinner and they were already lagging in the over-rate. So, all these factors were in my mind, and I thought of taking it to the end and looking for the better options,” he added.

What was going through @hardikpandya7's mind during the chase?

Listen from the man himself