"Okay To Be Unique": Straight-faced Hardik Pandya Shuts Down Ex-West Indies Star's Tricky Captaincy Question

For the second match running, Hardik Pandya led the Indian team in the ODI series against West Indies on Tuesday. He stood in for Rohit Sharma in the second ODI, which the team lost. After comprehensively winning the first ODI against West Indies in Barbados, the Indian team were handed a defeat in the second match at the same venue as the hosts valiantly fought back. West Indies captain Shai Hope won the toss and opted to field against India in the third and final ODI of the three-match series at the Brian Lara Stadium.

At the toss, Pandya was asked a tricky question by former West Indies spinner Samuel Badree. "India haven't lost a bilateral ODI series in more than a decade Vs WI. You don't want to be the captain to break the trend?"

Hardik Pandya replied: "It's okay to be unique".

India made two changes - Ruturaj Gaikwad and Jaydev Unadkat come into the XI for Umran Malik and Axar Patel.

India captain Hardik Pandya said, "Two changes for us. Ruturaj comes in place of Umran and Unadkat comes in place of Axar. Going to the decider the boys are pumped up and looking forward to the game. Looks good (the surface), I don't think much will change, batting first gives a good opportunity for us to set a good total."

Speaking at the time of the toss, West Indies captain Shai Hope said, "We gonna bowl first and extract as much as we can from the surface. We are playing the same team. Looks a better surface and expect the ball to come on a bit better. It is all about the process and we need to be more consistent with the results as well."

West Indies (Playing XI): Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Alick Athanaze, Shai Hope(w/c), Shimron Hetmyer, Keacy Carty, Romario Shepherd, Yannic Cariah, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, and Jayden