Rohit Sharma, the captain of India, believes Hardik Pandya has returned with a greater grasp of his style of play and is more certain of his intentions with both bat and ball.
Rohit Sharma, the captain of India, believes Hardik Pandya has returned with a greater grasp of his style of play and is more certain of his intentions with both bat and ball. In their Asia Cup opener on Sunday, India defeated longtime foe Pakistan by a margin of five wickets thanks in large part to an all-around performance by Hardik.
He took three wickets with the ball, including that of the dangerous Mohammad Rizwan, before shining under pressure with an unbeaten 33 off just 17 balls.
Hardik is a guy in Rohit’s eyes who now understands what to do in particular circumstances.
“Hardik has been outstanding ever since he made his comeback. He realised what he needed to do for his body and training regimen when he wasn’t on the team, and today he clocks 140+ with ease, Rohit stated at the post-match presentation ceremony.
We are all aware of his excellent batting ability, which has continued since his comeback. He is much more at ease and sure of himself now, whether he’s using the bat or the ball, ” the coach continued.
On Sunday, Hardik’s ability to bowl quickly was on full display.
“We saw today with those short balls that he can bowl pretty swiftly. It was always just a matter of comprehending his style of play, and he’s doing it now. You can panic under pressure when 10 runs are needed per over, but he never shown any such emotion. Despite limiting Pakistan to a score of 147, India’s chase was complicated since the top order struggled.
Halfway into the race, we were still confident that we could prevail no matter what. When you have that belief, these things may happen, Rohit continued. We both held that belief.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam felt his bowlers did well to make the chase a tough one.
“It was a terrific way to start (with the ball). We were short by around 10-15 runs. Bowlers did a great job of making a match out of this. To add those helpful runs, our tail did step up a little, Babar added.
Mohammad Nawaz, a left-arm spinner, bowled the final over, and Babar commented, “Thought was to take the game deep. The intention was to apply pressure, but Hardik finished strong. On his T20I debut, pacer Naseem Shah took two wickets, and the captain showered the youngster with accolades.
“Despite being a relatively young bowler, Naseem bowled quite well and with tremendous aggression.”
