MS Dhoni Then, Virat Kohli Now, Hardik Pandya Next? Michael Vaughan Heaps Praise on All-Rounder

Former England captain Michael Vaughan heaped praise on Hardik Pandya after the India all-rounder slammed an unbeaten 42 off 22 balls to power India to victory chasing 194 with two balls to spare in the second Twenty20 International against Australia in Sydney on Sunday.

Vaughan said Hardik has a great chance to take over from Virat Kohli as the 'next global superstar', especially considering there are two ICC events in India over the next three years.

Despite Big Hitting, Hardik Pandya Admits He's Still Searching for The Right Bat

"He has to look at the next three years. With the next T20 world cup being in India, obviously the IPL being in India, the next 50-over World Cup is in India in 2023, Hardik Pandya has got a great opportunity to become the next global superstar,” Vaughan said in a video with Cricbuzz.

"MS Dhoni, he had that mantle for many years. Virat Kohli has it now. It’s generally the Indian players that get put onto that pedestal and I think Hardik’s got a chance to be the next superstar."

How Hardik Pandya, The Finisher, Sealed the T20I Series in Sydney

Hardik has been in superb striking form since the IPL. In the current tour of Australia, he has scores of 90, 28, 92* in the ODIs and 16 and 42* in the T20Is. The Baroda player explained that he was 'trying to figure out' which bat was his best in the series.

"I am trying to figure out my bats now. My match bat got broken in the first ODI which I was playing for the last three years, so the whole series, all these five games, I have been trying to figure out which bat I should bat with," said Pandya who hit two sixes to finish the match after India needed 14 in the last over from Australia pace bowler Daniel Sams.

Pandya said that he did not want to leave the game to the last ball and went for the big hits.

"I felt two big hits (would do), since the last couple of games I was not able to connect so I thought a few things before coming to this game, and happy with the way it turned out... More than the six I wanted to finish because I have seen a couple of games, where with 6 off 3 balls, the game can go to the wire and I wanted to finish the game early," he added.

"Special mention to Natarajan as well. I thought he should be the Man of the Match, because the bowlers struggled here and he had a really good game."

• Hardik Pandya
• India vs Australia
• India vs Australia 2020
• India vs Australia 2020-21
• michael vaughan
• MS Dhoni
• virat kohli