Hardik Pandya’s consistent form with the bat impressed India’s first 1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev. The legendary Indian all-rounder called for his promotion in the batting order in the shortest format.
Hardik Pandya was sent back home from Australia in 2018-19 for his controversial remarks in a non-cricket talk show along with KL Rahul. Two years later, in his return to Australia in only limited-overs squads, he emerged as one of the mainstays in India’s batting line-up by scoring 210 runs with two nineties in three ODIs and playing important cameos amassing 78 runs in 3 T20Is.
Hardik Pandya Should Be Promoted At No.4: Kapil Dev
His exploits were not only limited to the cricket field as Hardik Pandya won hearts with the gesture of handing over his T20 Player of the Series award to newcomer debutant pacer T Natarajan who picked maximum 6 wickets in 3 T20Is averaging a meagre 13.83.
“You need to 2-3 players in the middle-order who can give you momentum. There is Hardik Pandya. You can make him a No.4 batsman in T20s. It’s all about experimenting,” Kapil told ABP Uncut.
Hardik Pandya won the Man of the Series in three-match T20Is against Australia after winning Man of Match in 3rd ODI. This award came after he had already emerged as India’s highest run-scorer in the ODIs with two 90-plus scores besides his name.
Hardik Pandya Needs To Start Bowling Again To Be Selected In Test Squad Reckons Virat Kohli
Hardik Pandya’s brilliant run with the bat ignited talks of holding him back for the four-match Test series against Australia starting December 17 but Indian captain Virat Kohli said the flamboyant all-rounder cricketer needs to start bowling again to be considered for selection in the longest format-test cricket.
Kapil Dev meanwhile urged the Indian team management to experiment more in T20s, keeping the upcoming two World Cups 2021 in India and 2022 in Australia in mind.
“You have youngsters like Mayank and Sanju Samson. The captain has to back youngsters and also the management. The think tank has to believe in building a new team because T20 is a format of the youth.”
“It is surprising that despite hosting IPL for so many years you are still apprehensive in taking such calls. T20 allows youngsters to be ruthless and if there was no IPL then there wouldn’t have been any discussion but since we have a tournament like IPL, we should make more use of it,” Kapil Dev added.
Hardik Pandya hasn’t been bowling much to avoid risking aggravating his back pain after having a surgery in 2019 but bowled 4 overs after a year long break in international cricket and picked prized scalp of centurion Steve Smith while conceding 24 runs in 2nd ODI.
Several prospects like Suryakumar Yadav are performing well consistently and may be selected in Indian T20I team with the likes of Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey’s inconsistency with the bat.