India won the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011, 28 long years after they first did it, leading to the culmination of the golden generation of one of the most balanced teams in history. Post the Yuvraj Singh era, India has moved into a prolonged experimental phase in the quest to find their replacement, the quest was stopped at one name – Hardik Pandya. Hardik Pandya is assumed to be the vice-captain of the whiteball team and has the traits of a leader.
Ever since debuting for India in 2016, Hardik Pandya has been a vital asset for team India in all three formats. However, right when everyone had thought that they had found the answer for the long-sought-after allrounder, Hardik Pandya suffered a severe back injury that sidelined him for months. Ever since the injury, Hardik Pandya’s frequency of bowling has been minimal, and he was chugged out of the test team altogether to minimize his workload.
Hardik perhaps needs to play a bit aggressively and stick to his natural attacking brand of game. Hardik needs to up the ante against the spinners and play the role of finisher which is vacant since MS Dhoni. The management would be considering using Hardik as a floater and a pinch hitter.
Hardik Pandya’s form is a little bit of concern – Sanjay Manjrekar
Sanjay Manjrekar was speaking on a show on Star Sports and was vocal about Hardik Pandya’s bowling form in the recent past. Pandya led the Indian team against the West Indies in the recently concluded T20I series where he used himself as a bowler but failed to complete the quota of overs, while also leaking runs in the decider, adding to the team’s defeat.
“Hardik Pandya will have to do a lot of physical work in the world Cup because you need him as the all-rounder not just a batter so at least 6-7 over per innings is what is expected from him,” said Sanjay Manjrekar.
The cricketer-commentator also drew parallels between the Indian team of 2011 and the current team, dissecting that the current Indian team lacks players like Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina, who were batsmen who could bowl overs consistently.
“When India won the World Cup in 2011, it was because of people like Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh pure batters who bowled a bit, so Hardik Pandya’s bowling is very important,” he added.
Hardik Pandya failed to play the role of the finisher, as his slowpoke innings often had a great impact on India’s run rate in the death overs. Pandya’s innings of 14 runs of 18 in the decider pulled India back towards the end. The Indian vice-captain scored 77 runs in the five-match T20I series against the West Indies. Very underwhelming numbers for a player of his caliber.
The allrounder averaged 31.50 while bowling 15 overs in the Caribbean, scalping a solitary wicket. Pandya’s captaincy decisions were also questioned by experts, as he failed to use his bowlers effectively often under-bowling them. Come the Asia Cup the allrounder will have to bring his A-game to the team, so as to cement his place as a future captain.
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