Hardik Pandya picks out upcoming Mumbai Indians star as future international player
Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya lauded the youngster and marked him as an international cricketer for the future.
Over the years, Mumbai Indians have produces some quality cricketing talents who have gone on to represent the national team as well. Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Krunal Pandya, and Tilak Varma are some of those examples.
This season, Nehal Wadhera looks like a talent to look out for. The left-hander bats lower down the order and has played some useful cameos in his short cricketing career. In the last match against Lucknow Super Giants, Wadhera scored a crucial 46 when his team was in deep trouble. He hit 4 fours and 2 sixes during his knock. Both of his sixes came against fast bowler Mayank Yadav, who has proved to be difficult for the batters this season.
Wadhera came in to bat when Mumbai Indians were tottering at 27-4, with Hardik Pandya being the last man dismissed. The youngster stitched an important 53-run partnership with Ishan Kishan to stabilize the innings. When Kishan was dismissed, he formed another partnership with Tim David. Nehal Wadhera was dismissed for a 41-ball-46 off a brilliant yorker by left-arm quick Mohsin Khan.
Hardik Pandya picks out Nehal Wadhera as future international player
During the post-match presentation, Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya lauded Nehal Wadhera for his brilliant innings under pressure. Pandya also expected Wadhera to play international cricket at some time in the future.
"He has been fantastic, the way he batted against Rajasthan and tonight. He did fantastic last year as well. It was because of the team combination that he could not play early. Looking at his talent, he will play for a lot of years for Mumbai and for India eventually," Hardik Pandya said about Nehal Wadhera.
Nehal Wadhera has the skills to finish off an innings as he has shown so far. He scored 21 runs off Mayank Yadav, who has been bowling thunderbolts this season. The 23-year-old has scored 99 runs in 3 matches this year at an average of 33 and an impressive strike rate of 147.76.
He was also impressive last season, in which he made his IPL debut as well. In IPL 2023, he scored 241 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of 145.18. Wadhera has been one of the shining lights for Mumbai Indians in their disappointing IPL 2024 campaign so far.
Meanwhile, despite Wadhera's rescue act, Mumbai Indians lost the match to Lucknow Super Giants by 4 wickets in the last over of the match. They are currently at the ninth position in the points table, just above Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
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