One of the biggest positives for India from this year’s ICC Champions Trophy was Hardik Pandya’s emergence as a potential world-class all-rounder. The talent was always there but the all-rounder from Baroda was yet to prove his mettle. However, the 23-year-old is finally justifying the hype surrounding him with some consistent performances with both the bat and ball.
He had a brilliant Indian Premier League where he played an integral role in Mumbai Indians’ title-winning campaign and he continued the same form in the recently-concluded Champions Trophy. After slamming a quickfire 80 not out in the warm-up game against Bangladesh, the hard-hitting all-rounder scored a quickfire 20* in the tournament-opener against Pakistan to all but seal his spot in the team. The next notable performance from him came in the final against Pakistan when his belligerent knock of 76 had given many a glimmer of hope.
Pandya has not got much to do with the bat in the ongoing series against West Indies but he is making sure to make a difference with the ball, having taken five wickets in the four matches so far. Not surprisingly, Pandya is delighted with the way things have turned out in the last few months.
“(I’m) pretty happy with the way things are going for me. I’ve been working hard on both the bowling and the batting. I’m trying to keep it simple and things are turning (out) pretty well,” Pandya said on Tuesday (July 4).
Explaining on how he improved his bowling, the right-arm said relying on variations has done the trick for him. He also said that focusing on how to get a batsman out instead of thinking about his game-plan has also helped him to improve his bowling.
“You need to (mix your lengths), it’s more of a batsman’s game now so you need to have some variations where you can come up with different deliveries. I feel that it’s important to bowl six different deliveries. I try to keep it simple but when you know that the batsman is coming after you, you need to bowl different deliveries where you can outplay the batsman, you think slightly ahead of the batsman,” he explained.
“In my 16-game career, I’ve realised that the batsmen will come hard at me. Instead of thinking that they are going to hit me I look at it as a chance to get them out. It always gives you the opportunity when they come hard at you, you have the opportunity to get them out. In that way, I’m getting wickets. There are days when I get hit as well, that’s normal, that’s cricket in the end. But I always take it as a challenge,” he added.
Pandya has made a name for himself with his hard-hitting abilities but the all-rounder showed a different side of his batting in the fourth ODI against West Indies. Chasing 189 on a tough pitch, the Men in Blue were reeling at 116 for five in the 36th over when Pandya joined Dhoni in the middle. And instead of playing his usual game, Pandya adopted a cautious approach, scoring a 21-ball 20 before being cleaned up by Jason Holder.
“I feel that you should be brave enough to do things. I back my game, I back myself, I see the situation and I like to play accordingly. I don’t count myself as a one-dimensional player. I feel that I should see the scoreboard and play accordingly. That’s how I’m going to learn cricket and that’s how I’m going to make sure that I finish the games,” he said.
Speaking about the knock in the fourth ODI, he added.“I’ve been known for my sixes but I’ve played those (hard-working) innings as well. Throughout my life, I’ve batted at a number where I can just go out and hit from the first ball. In the last game, the situation required me to play for singles, which I was doing. Unfortunately, I got out but my plan was always that I should finish the game, take the game deep.”
Revealing the conversation that took place between him and Dhoni, he said:
“The conversation (with Dhoni) was simple. The power which we both have, we can chase any total – it’s just that we got to stay there. You can’t win a game sitting outside, it’s very important that you take the game deep and make sure that you read the situation. We were doing pretty fine but as I said, it was unfortunate that I shuffled a lot and I got out.
Dhoni and Pandya had taken India close but neither of them could take the team over the line, as Virat Kohli & Co. fell short by 11 runs. But Pandya is not thinking too much about the defeat and is confident the team will bounce back in the fifth and final ODI.
“Things were going pretty right. When I got out it was 29-ball 31 runs, which on any given day we’ll take it. It was just one of those games where it didn’t click and it didn’t turn out to be our game. I felt that things were pretty alright. We’re just going to be fearless and express ourselves (in the fifth ODI). Eventually, when you express yourself you play your best cricket,” said Pandya.
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