On this day: Hardik Pandya’s memorable ODI debut

16th October 2016 – 23-year-old Hardik Pandya bursting with all-round talent donned the Indian ODI blues for the first time in his career. Having already debuted in the T20I side earlier that year, an ODI promotion wasn’t far away. And it was none other than India’s greatest all-rounder Kapil Dev, who handed the India cap to Hardik – literally passing the baton to the next generation superstar. Kapil himself made his Test debut on this day in 1978 against Pakistan.

Taking a moment to remember my ODI debut three years ago today … what a memorable journey it’s been so far with #TeamIndia. Every time I step onto the field, I realize a dream I had as a kid to play for my country.. there’s no greater honour for me ??❤ pic.twitter.com/myD4nwMLJL

— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) October 16, 2019

As a notorious kid growing up in the bylanes of Baroda, Hardik dreamt of playing for his country one day. Little did he imagine that 18 years later, that dream would become a reality. Consistent performances on the domestic circuit were followed up by a promising IPL season with the Mumbai Indians in 2015. Brutal with the bat, brisk with the ball. Hardik became a crowd favourite in no time.

A debut to remember

At the picturesque Dharamsala Stadium, India were gearing up to play the first ODI against New Zealand. Captain MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to field first. Straightaway, he tossed the new ball to Hardik in the second over. Nervous, Hardik ran in to bowl his first delivery to opener Tom Latham who immediately took a single and gave the strike to the experienced Martin Guptill. In the next four balls, Guptill smashed three fours and almost got an edge off a peach. The tables turned on the last ball when Hardik squared him up with a length ball outside off that flew straight to Rohit Sharma in the slips. The mini-battle had ended. He then removed the dangerous pinch-hitters Corey Anderson and Luke Ronchi to finish with figures of 3/31.

4th Indian to win Man of the Match award on debut

For his impressive performance with the ball, Hardik won the Man of the Match award in his debut ODI. It was the fourth such instance in Indian cricket. The first Indian cricketer to achieve this feat was former batsman Sandeep Patil in 1980 against Australia at Melbourne. Batting in the middle order, he scored a brilliant 64 to set up a match-winning total of 208/9. India went on to win the match by 66 runs.

In 2013, pace bowler Mohit Sharma became the second such player to bag the award in his maiden ODI outing. Sharma picked up figures of 2/26 against Zimbabwe and India won the encounter by 9 wickets. Coincidentally, just a few months before Hardik registered the same record, his good friend and batsman KL Rahul made history. Playing his first ODI against Zimbabwe, the opener struck an unbeaten 100 to guide India to a 9-wicket win and clinched the Man of the Match award. His century was the first by an Indian batsman on ODI debut.