MATCH STORIES
Follow UsA perfect combination might be difficult to crack in T20s, but having a fast-bowling all-rounder always helps. He can double as the third seamer, making room for two specialist spinners in the XI, and on the flip side, he can also be the fourth seamer in the side on pitches that aid fast bowlers.
Moreover, he adds some stability and death when it comes to batting.
Hardik Pandya is touted to be one such player, but given the way the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season has gone, he was neither doing the job with the bat nor was he up to the mark with the ball.
In the first nine matches, while he had par numbers with the bat – 197 runs at 24.63 and a strike rate of 151.5 – it was with the ball that Pandya failed to deliver.
However, with dying pitches, he has stepped up a notch and left an indelible mark over the last three games.
This is despite not altering his length too much.
2/26 vs Lucknow, 2/44 vs Kolkata and 3/31 in this game against Hyderabad.
With Pandya faring well with the ball, team India and their fans will certainly breathe a sigh of relief. As an all-rounder, Pandya had his best year in T20 Internationals (T20I) in 2022, where he led the Indian side.
He slammed 607 runs at 33.72 and a strike rate of 145.91, including three fifties. And with the ball, he had 20 scalps at an economy rate of 8.50.
In 2023, while his bowling did not drop a great deal (11 wkts, Econ 7.28), his batting deteriorated (188 runs, SR 110.58).
However, his batting was never an issue in IPL 2022 and 2023. He batted largely at three or four in those two seasons and delivered with the bat, scoring nearly 900 runs at a strike rate of 135. However, the role that India need in their XI is that of someone who can bat lower than that – ideally at five and six – and crush the opponents with some aggressive shots.
India have tried as many as eight batters at five and six in T20Is since 2023. While Rinku Singh, who is in the T20 World Cup reserve, has hit 356 runs at a strike rate of 176.2 (11 innings), Pandya has managed just 188 runs at a strike rate of 110.6.
There’s nothing to write home about Pandya's batting, which has largely come on batting-friendly pitches so far; his bowling would certainly give him, MI, and India something to smile about.
While MI are out of contention for a place in the playoffs, Pandya certainly has a point to prove. Their last two matches of the season could go a long way in Hardik Pandya finishing off on a high in what has been a challenging IPL campaign.
