The India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey hasn’t been surprised with the way the team’s leading fast-bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya is bowling in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024, co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States of America (USA), especially after a horrible Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
Leading the Mumbai Indians, Hardik Pandya who replaced Rohit Sharma in the captaincy position was booed by the Wankhede crowd so much, which affected his performances with the bat and ball in hand. He ended up with a poor show in the league.
The five-time champions finished the 17th season of the 20-over tournament with the wooden spoon, as the all-rounder returned with 216 runs at an average of only 18, and could pick up only 11 wickets at an economy of 10.75.
‘It was a factor where Hardik Pandya wasn’t able to maintain his rhythm’- Paras Mhambrey
Going into the T20 World Cup 2024, the concern was whether Hardik could come up with colorful performances, keeping those on and off-the-field issues of his life aside. Once he shapes up well in the side, the balance of the Indian team gets perfect.
Hardik Pandya started the competition on a good note, with a positive performance in the warm-up fixture against Bangladesh at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.
The India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey feels that the Gujrat-born has a lot of confidence in his ability and his problems which were affecting him during the IPL 2024 were lacking a little bit of rhythm.
‘I think one thing I’m definitely sure about you, is that he (Hardik Pandya) has confidence in his ability. Sometimes there’s no rhythm in a tournament. Sometimes, even if you try, the rhythm doesn’t come. It takes time. I think that was a phase where the rhythm didn’t come.’ India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey expressed on the pre-match conference before India’s third game of the tournament, against USA. ‘As a bowler, you do everything. You bowl, you score goals, you bowl consistently, you play. So sometimes he would not maintain his rhythm. I think in his case, it was a factor where he was not able to maintain his rhythm.’
Hardik has shown how good he has been in critical situations. In the last game against Pakistan, defending a low score of 119, he returned with figures of 2/24 in four overs, which included the wickets of Fakhar Zaman, who failed to handle the slow bouncer.
The former India bowler admits that if Hardik Pandya weren’t working to get back into rhythm, it would have been a huge challenge for them in this tournament.
‘If it was worrisome, he would not have done anything in that phase. If he did not work on that, then it was a little worrisome. But one thing was, for sure, I knew that I also followed that, that his work ethic was going on the same as before. So, if that is going on with him then after one or two matches, the rhythm of the bowler comes.’ The former India pacer remarked. ‘Because he has done a lot of bowling, he has a lot of understanding about his bowling. So, he was sure that if work ethics was going on, he was bowling, nets attendance was going on, so I think the rhythm will come.’
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The bowling coach also praised Hardik Pandya’s work ethic and how he kept working on different aspects in the nets.
‘I think you can see, in the last one or two matches he bowled, if you compare the IPL and the rhythm now, as a bowler you can see that he has the rhythm.’ The Mumbai-born, Paras Mhambrey reflected. ‘So, I think that’s it. It’s all about rhythm. And I think he has caught the rhythm.’
Hardik Pandya has picked up five wickets in this World Cup so far at an average of 10.20 and an economy of just over six.
