Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya said that he is "Devastated, gutted, hurt" after India suffered a crushing 10-wicket loss to England in the second semifinal of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday, 10 November.
Hardik played a sensational knock (63 off 33) to propel India to a decent 168/6 in 20 overs, after the men in blue had got off to a sedate start and scored only 62 runs in the first two overs.
However, English openers Jos Buttler (80 not out from 49 balls) and Alex Hales (86 not out from 47) made a chase look like a walk in the park, powering their team to the final with a convincing 10-wicket win over India.
"Devastated, gutted, hurt. Tough to take, for all of us. To my teammates, I've enjoyed the bond that we built - we fought for each other every step of the way. Thank you to our support staff for their endless dedication and hardwork for months on end," the star all-rounder said in a tweet.
"To our fans who backed us everywhere we went, we're forever grateful. It wasn't meant to be but we'll reflect and keep fighting," Hardik added.
India's next assignment will be the limited overs tour of New Zealand, where Hardik will lead the side in the three match T20I series. The matches will be played between 18 to 22 November on Wellington, Mount Maunganui and Napier.
India's T20I Squad for New Zealand Series: Hardik Pandya (C), Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.
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