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The most troublesome point that is haunting Indian cricket today is whether Hardik Pandya will play the T20 World Cup as a batting all-rounder or purely as a batter. Reportedly, Hardik will have to bowl to make himself eligible to be a part of the World Cup team.
At least, this is the wish of the Indian team management and this has been a talking point since the 2021 T20 World Cup – whether Hardik can be a part of the playing XI without bowling. One of the reasons why Hardik had left Mumbai Indians and joined Gujarat Titans could be the alleged clash with
captain Rohit Sharma on this issue. It is believed that Rohit and the Mumbai management were completely in the dark on whether Hardik will bowl again or not.
As luck would have it, Hardik was back with a bang and became a four dimensional player — batting, bowling, fielding and captaining. His all-round performance floored everyone. His consistency got him back into the Mumbai team as a captain. So much so that Rohit was side-lined by the team management without consultation.
But the conflict remains the same even after nearly three years – whether Hardik will bowl or not. With the selectors still deliberating as to who should be the eight bowlers in the T20 World Cup – it is understood that Hardik and Ravindra Jadeja are also in that list of bowlers or cricketers who can bowl in addition to seven batters for the 15-member World Cup team.
As a matter of fact, Hardik was just too good in last year’s World Cup with the ball till injury ruled him out of the event. The balance of the team or the team combination after Hardik’s exit due to his injury hurt India so much that the home team couldn’t lift the World Cup despite having a dream run in the league phase of the tournament.
Now that the disputed point about Hardik’s bowling has come to the forefront, one can’t get over how former Indian captain MS Dhoni, who would be in the US for the T20 World Cup, raved over a bowler who can clock over 140 km/hr and bat in the middle after India lost the 2015 50-over World Cup to Australia in the semifinals. It is indeed a rare thing to find a cricketer like Hardik Pandya because of the kind of talent he possesses.
Wonderful article. Informative.