"You have just dropped the World Cup" - Even though Steve Waugh did not say these exact words after Herschelle Gibbs dropped his catch in the Australia vs South Africa match at Leeds, the moment has attained immortality in the cricketing folklore. Dropped catches are remembered and revisited if they result in the defeat of the fielding team. On Sunday, Hardik Pandya had a similar thought in his mind.
England was chasing 330 runs against India in the third ODI to win the series, and Ben Stokes was out in the middle.
Just a few days ago, Stokes had hammered a 99 off 52 balls helping England to chase down 337 runs. In this match, he was batting on 15 when he top-edged Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Pandya, at long-off, missed the simplest of chance. Pandya immediately turned back leaving his teammates and management in the dugout in shock.
Moments later, Stokes survived a close run-out chance. But his luck soon ran out when he mishit a full toss from T Natarajan and Shikhar Dhawan took the catch at deep square leg. A relieved Pandya folded his hands towards Dhawan and bowed down on the ground to thank him for dismissing Stokes.
And Twitterati took the responsibility to make the reaction of Hardik go viral.