India had a terrible start to the match against New Zealand as their top-order crumbled in front of some really good bowling from the Blackcaps. Ishan Kishan (4), KL Rahul (18), Rohit Sharma (14) and Virat Kohli (9) were dismissed one after the another as they tried to force the issue after the Kiwis had pegged the Indians back in the early overs. The pressure was too much to handle in a crucial clash as the famed Indian batting was shut out completely. Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya joined forces in the 11th over as India were down and out at 48/4. The duo tried their best to get some quick runs but even they struggled in front of some disciplined bowling by the Kiwi spin duo of Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi.

On the second delivery of the 14th over, Sodhi bowled a flat and short delivery outside the leg stump and Hardik Pandya tried to smack it out of the park, but instead got a top edge. The ball flew high in the air towards the deep square leg boundary where Jimmy Neesham was stationed.

The New Zealand all-rounder jumped high in the air and somehow managed to get his hand on the ball. The ball hit Neesham’s forearm and fell inside the boundary rope even as the all-rounder tumbled over it. The effort ensured Hardik did not get a much needed six for India.

ICC posted the video on Instagram and captioned it, “REJECTED! Jimmy Neesham stretches his arm out to deny Hardik Pandya the maximum.”

Rishabh Pant departed soon after, scoring just 12 runs. Hardik continued his fight and was eventually dismissed for 23 runs off 24 deliveries. Ravindra Jadeja was the only Indian batsman to get some quality runs under his belt as he scored an unbeaten 26to push India over the 100-run mark.

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