Hardik Pandya produced a Man of the Match performance for Mumbai Indians on Wednesday as we beat Chennai Super Kings by 37 runs at the Wankhede Stadium. The hard-hitting all-rounder scored a quickfire unbeaten 25 from 8 balls in the back end of Mumbai’s innings before picking 3 wickets and conceding just 20 runs to help MI become the first team to record 100 wins in the IPL. The powerful all-rounder hit three sixes and a four in his 25, but his most memorable shot of the evening was a helicopter shot that saw him dispatch a ball from Dwayne Bravo into the stands.

He shared his thoughts on that shot and spoke of his pride after successful executing it in front of the shot’s pioneer. “It’s very special, I’ve been working on that shot and I was kind of proud after playing it. I was kind of expecting MS Dhoni to come and say: ‘good shot, good shot’. But yeah quite happy, I was working on those shots because people generally like to bowl at the stumps with me. It’s a shot that’s not easy, but with the bat swing that I have (it’s possible). And I’ve seen MS hitting so much and he’s my inspiration for that shot. We try to copy lot of shots that he plays, and this is one of the shots that I’ve copied from him. Quite happy that it came off well,” Hardik told iplt20.com after the match.

From the opposition dugout, Chennai’s head coach Stephen Fleming lavished praise on Hardik and admitted being a ‘massive fan’ of the swashbuckling 25-year-old. “I am a massive fan of Hardik, I think he is a wonderful player. His confidence is up and it looks like he has a good thing going with what he’s doing at the death. Teams should now plan to combat that. We were happy with what we were trying to do but executed it poorly. He is a quality player and I think he is one of Mumbai’s key weapons and one of India’s key players going forward. If you keep him out of the game, you often go on to win. But today with bat and ball, he was excellent,” Fleming told reporters at the post-match press conference. 

Hardik’s 3 for 20 against CSK was his best-ever figures in the IPL. However, it’s his 45-run partnership from 13 balls with Kieron Pollard that got Mumbai to a competitive score of 170 in the first place. The Indian all-rounder was well supported by Pollard, who managed 17 off 7 deliveries and then took a stunning one-handed catch at the point boundary to dismiss Suresh Raina in the second innings. Hardik later revealed how highly the Trinidadian is thought of in the MI dressing room.

“He’s someone who’s a special cricketer. He’s dear to us, he’s a brother to me and he is a match-winner no matter where he bats or his bowling or fielding, you know. He contributes with the ball, but he hasn’t had an opportunity with the ball (so far this season). But I think whenever you put him on the spot, he’ll deliver. That’s why we back him, according to me he is an MI legend,” Hardik added.