T20 World Cup 2024: Broadcasters display Hardik Pandya’s picture on scorecard during West Indies’ game against PNG

Hardik Pandya ( Source : X / Twitter )

West Indies played their first T20 World Cup 2024 game as they took on Papua New Guinea in Match 2 on June 2. As West Indies won the game by five wickets, fans were caught by surprise as India’s vice-captain Hardik Pandya entered from nowhere. The broadcasters displayed Pandya’s picture in the match summary section prefixed to the players who were the top performers of the game.

Pandya’s image was displayed before the names of Andre Russell and Brandon King. He also made it to the PNG team, replacing Sesa Bua and Asad Wala in the picture, thanks to a technical glitch by the broadcasters. Regarding the game, PNG posted 136 runs on the board batting first on a sluggish track. West Indies, however, struggled a bit in between but reached target with five wickets in hand and one over remaining.

Here’s the snapshot of the technical glitch by broadcasters:

I believe, you have to stay in the battle: Pandya

Pandya has been going through a rough patch as an all-rounder. His performance in the Indian Premier League 2024 was underwhelming. He picked just 11 wickets and leaked runs at a rate of over 11 runs per over. His performance with the bat was not satisfactory either as he mustered just 216 runs at an overage of 18. After smashing a quickfire 40 runs in 23 balls in the warm-up game of the T20 World Cup against Bangladesh, Pandya opened up on hardships and challenges.

“Eventually, I believe, you have to stay in the battle. Sometimes life puts you in situations where things are tough. But, I believe that if you leave the game or the field, the battle that is, you won’t get what you want from your sport or the results you are looking for. So, yes, it has been difficult, but at the same time I have been process-driven. I have tried to follow the same routines I used to follow earlier,” said Pandya.