Watch: Virat Kohli hails superstar Hardik Pandya, takes a subtle dig at KL Rahul

New Delhi, Sep 25: India skipper Virat Kohli hailed his teammate Hardik Pandya as a 'superstar' after the latter played a match-winning knock of 72-ball 78 and cantered hosts to a convincing win over Australia in the third ODI.

Promoted up in the order at number four, the 23-year-old made most of the occasion and notched up his fourth half-century. Pandya almost saw India through before getting dismissed as the hosts were 11 short of a win.

Chasing a target of 294 on a strip favouring batsmen, India got off to a blistering start as openers Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane put up a partnership of 139 for the first wicket. Pandya walked into the middle after both the openers went back into the pavilion and played his natural game.

With Kohli and later Manish Pandey at the other end, Pandya played an aggressively and kept hitting the opposition spinner, Ashton Agar.

Impressed with the youngster's batting exploits skipper Kohli lauded him and termed the all-rounder as a great asset for the side.

"I'm really, really satisfied with the win. He (Pandya) is a star, has the ability with the ball, bat and the field. We need a guy like that, we've been missing an explosive all-rounder. He is a great asset for Indian cricket," Kohli said after the match.

Kohli, later, posted a video - recorded in the dressing room - with Pandya on his Twitter handle in which both the players shared some light moments.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here is the man of the moment @hardikpandya7(Also @klrahul11 at the back) Great win, series clinched #NumberOne," Kohli captioned the video.

Kohli, in the video, congratulated Pandya for his second match-winning knock in three games for India in the series. The skipper also took a subtle banter with teammate KL Rahul in the video asking him to have an IPL contract next year.

Here's the video:

During the post-match presentation, Kohli revealed that it was coach Ravi Shastri's idea to promote Pandya for his ability to target the spinners.

"The idea behind his promotion was Ravi (Shastri) bhai, to attack the spinner," Kohli added.

When asked if his bludgeoning 76-run knock against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final was the turning point for him, Pandya politely made a statement.

"If you want to think that way, you can, I have no problems. I played well in the IPL before that. Last year's IPL wasn't great for me, so I worked hard, and the form came back.

"And I used to hit sixes before too, it's just that I am hitting them at a higher level now. I have been hitting sixes since childhood otherwise," Pandya told reporters at the post-match press conference.