Hardik Pandya's schoolboyish error could cost India the Test

Of late, Hardik Pandya has been winning accolades from all around for his maturity at the international level, and the ease by which he has graduated to the highest grade in the span of two years.

However, in the opening hour of the third day of the ongoing Test against South Africa, Hardik Pandya committed a grievous error that could very well change the course of the game that was level before the third day began.

Virat Kohli notched up his 21st Test ton, pumping his fists in ecstasy. Before that, he had combined with Pandya to take India to safety after the middle-order had imploded. Perhaps, some of Kohli's exuberance rubbed into Pandya, who casually turned it into callousness for the team.

Me trying to fulfill my responsibilities. #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/mf5dyd4NjB

— Nikhil ? (@CricCrazyNIKS) January 15, 2018

In the very next over, Hardik Pandya drove a Kagiso Rabada delivery past Kohli towards mid-on and strode out of his crease for a run. The captain, without watching where the ball went, dismissed the possibility of a run, asking Pandya to return to his crease.

Pandya stopped in his tracks, turned around, and had time to get back to the batting crease. And he did too. Just that, he did not ground his bat.

A swift Vernon Philander picked up the ball and threw it straight at the striker's end. Pandya was jogging his way back into safety, and even as the ball crashed onto the stumps, seemed to have made his ground. The South African team made a half-hearted appeal, but umpire Michael Gough wasn't taking any chances.

The replays zoomed into a disastrous folly by Hardik Pandya.

Even as the ball overtook Pandya and broke into the stumps, a nonchalant 24-year-old casually tried to make his ground. He did not put in the effort of grounding the bat, and at the exact moment when the ball hit the stumps, the replays showed the ugly picture of Pandya hanging mid-air, his foot just outside the crease.

"This is unforgivable", screamed Sunil Gavaskar on-air.

It was a mistake that could cause a change in the context of the game. In the first innings of the opening game, Pandya had given an enthralling display of stroke-making with a fighting 93 that made everyone realize his importance as a suitable No.6 that lends balance to the side.

However, with Pandya's departure, and India already playing one batsman short, the visitors could actually lose their track in the Test, and subsequently, the series.

After watching those replays, an aghast Pandya will surely remember to stick his bat out while running.