IPL 2019 | Was expecting MS Dhoni to come up and say 'good shot', says Hardik Pandya after hitting helicopter shot

Hardik played a blistering knock of 25 off only eight balls to take the Indians to a total of 170, which proved to be a winning total against Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium. But, out of the three sixes in Pandya’s yesterday’s knock, the one that caught the attention was the famous helicopter shot. It was right in front of Dhoni’s eyes who had made the shot popular early in his career as the CSK skipper watched the ball travel into the stands from behind the stumps.

The six, which was struck in the final over of the Mumbai innings, travelled 91 meters and Pandya said after the match that he was working on the helicopter shot and the moment was really special when he managed to execute it. 

"Very special, I have been working on that shot (helicopter). After playing that shot I was kind of proud, I was expecting MS to come and say 'good shot'. Generally, people like to bowl at the stumps against me. It's a shot which is not easy but I have seen MS hitting them so many times.” Hardik told iplt20.com after the match.

“He is an inspiration and we try to copy a lot of shots which he plays and this is one of the shots which I've copied from him and quite happy that it came out well.”

The younger Pandya and Pollard’s knock in the last three overs yesterday helped the Indians register a good total on the board. Not only that the innings by the duo brought the momentum into the home team’s camp and they eventually defended the total and registered a win against CSK. Pollard scored 17 off seven deliveries and also took two brilliant catches in the later phase of the game.

"He is a special cricketer. He is very dear to us, he's like a brother to me. He's a match-winner no matter if he is batting, bowling or fielding. Whenever you put him in the spot he will deliver. According to me his an MI legend," the younger Pandya said.