It’s been a long, long eight months since Hardik Pandya played his last One Day International for India, and now the hard-hitter has shaken off his injury and is raring to go at the three match One Day International series against South Africa. Incidentally, Pandya got injured playing the same opponent, albeit in a T20 International. On Tuesday, Pandya had his first full practice session with his fellow Indian teammates.
Hardik has created such a situation where a fast-bowling allrounder, absent during the majority of the fav-five era of Indian cricket, is now deemed absolutely necessary. This has led the team management to play cricketers like Vijay Shankar and Shivam Dube, who excepting a few flashes of goodness, couldn’t prove their mettle in International cricket, neither in batting nor bowling. Pandya’s return is thus a major improvement for the Indian team.
Although not comparable in flashiness, Hardik’s bowling is as important as his carefree batting, and reportedly this is why him comeback was delayed by a couple of months since it was felt he was struggling to bowl at his peak for a considerable period of time in January.
Indian bowling coach Bharat Arun intensely observed an ironically casual Pandya, who bowled for nearly 40 minutes at the net all while talking part in a laugh-inducing conversation with pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, which made fellow teammates roll on the floor.
Pandya recently updated a picture on Instagram to show his fitness, as he has reportedly lost over seven kilograms of weight over the rehabilitation period.
The animation and casualness of bowling vanished when the returning boy took the bat. He mostly played on the backfoot and lost composure, getting angry on himself quite a few times. This led to coach Ravi Shastri keeping an eye on him and Pandya stayed relatively calmer for the rest of the session.
According to sources who kept an eye of the allrounder in tournaments, “He was sharp and looked really strong. It was always believed that his physique, his athleticism notwithstanding, was too frail to bear the kind of load that the team management expected him to.”
Former Indian cricketer feels this player is our best spin bowler – not R Ashwin!
