India’s head coach Ravi Shastri has claimed the services of Hardik Pandya will be missed on the forthcoming tour of Australia. Hardik Pandya is recuperating from an acute back injury which he had suffered in the Asia Cup. Thus, Pandya missed the series against the Windies. In fact, he is all set to miss the T20I series against Australia and also could not break in India’s Test squad.
Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya is still a work in progress player in the Test format. He could not come up with goods on the England tour except the third Test match at Trent Bridge where he scalped a five-wicket haul and also scored a fifty. However, he was dropped from the fifth and final Test match at Oval after ordinary performances.
Hardik Pandya adds balance to the side – Ravi Shastri.
In fact, a lot is expected from Hardik Pandya as he is the solitary seam bowling all-rounder in the Indian team. Pandya has done well in the limited overs format where he is still not a finished product in the red ball version. Meanwhile, Shastri said Pandya adds balance to the side.
“One player we’ll really miss is Hardik Pandya, who’s had an injury because he gives that balance to the side as a bowler and a batsman which allows you to play that extra bowler. Now we’ve got to think twice, but hopefully our fast bowlers do well and we don’t miss him that much,” Shastri said during India’s practice session at the GABBA.
On the other hand, Australian pitches are known to produce good bounce and Shastri believes Indian bowlers will enjoy bowling on these pitches. Indian bowlers have come up with goods in the recent past.
Indian bowlers have shown an upward swing in their improvement graph.
“They should enjoy bowling on these pitches. These pitches are likes the ones we’ve seen in the past, but it’s important that we stay fit as a unit. It doesn’t matter what line-up you play as long as they’re consistent. In the past, we’ve had one or two bowlers doing well in spells but as a unit bowling for three to five hours, to sustain the intensity and discipline, if that works well, batting line-up doesn’t matter”
Not taking anything for granted.
Shastri said the team is not feeling complacent despite the weak Australian side. The head coach said no team is weak in their own backyard and India don’t want to take anything for granted.
“I don’t think so. Once you have a sporting culture in you, it will always remain. I have always believed that no team is weak at home,” the India coach said. “We might have three-four players not playing when a team comes to India, but god forbid if anyone says it’s a weak Indian team. You’ll be surprised. Similarly, we are taking nothing for granted. We are going to go out, put our best foot forward and focus on our game over everything else.
India will begin their Australia tour with the first T20I on November 21 at Gabba.