Hardik Pandya is unlikely to play as a pure batsman on this T20 World Cup. The Indian Express understands that the group administration took this resolution after the loss to Pakistan within the opening recreation.
Pandya, who began bowling within the nets on Wednesday, will likely be monitored through the observe session forward of India’s subsequent match in opposition to New Zealand on Sunday. He will likely be included within the group provided that the group administration is bound about his bowling health.
Also, Shardul Thakur may also be watched carefully on the nets, as he’s prone to substitute Pandya if Pandya fails to make the lower.
After a protracted hiatus, Pandya bowled within the nets throughout India’s coaching session yesterday. However, bowling in excessive depth matches is a unique ball recreation and the group administration must be assured about its match preparation.
Yesterday’s internet session was basically about specializing in the all-rounder’s power and conditioning, steadily creating his peak bowling health.
The 28-year-old has bowled simply 19 overs in seven T20Is and 23 overs in six One Day Internationals this 12 months. He didn’t bowl in any respect on this 12 months’s Indian Premier League season. And but, whereas selecting the group for the ICC occasion, nationwide selector Chetan Sharma had backed him for bowling his overs within the T20 World Cup.
“Hardik is fit and will bowl his full quota of overs,” Sharma had mentioned through the group’s announcement.
But because the match drew to a detailed, uncertain about Pandya, the choice committee started to stress over the inclusion of an extra pacer and accordingly Thakur was included within the squad on the expense of Axar Patel, whose World Cup hopes had been abrupt. Crashed.
Without a sixth bowling choice, Virat Kohli put up a courageous entrance forward of India’s match opener and mentioned that with the No. 6 specialist in place, the group had no downside taking part in Pandya solely as a batsman. His death-overs benefited. hitting abilities. The India captain dismissed the suggestion that Pandya can be dropped if he didn’t bowl.
“These issues (uncertainty over Pandya’s choice) from a dialog or dialogue standpoint, appears very fascinating that if he does not bowl, will he be dropped. But we perceive what worth he brings to the group as a No. 6 batsman and in world cricket, in case you go searching, there are specialists who do that job,” Kohli had mentioned.
After a 10-wicket haul in opposition to Pakistan, the place India badly missed a sixth bowler on a Dubai pitch in Dubai, it’s discovered that the group administration is on the lookout for a Plan B and Thakur could have match into that plan. Huh.
Thakur is a really first rate lower-order batsman, adequate to vary the course of a match in Test cricket, as he did in opposition to Australia on the Gabba earlier this 12 months and extra just lately in opposition to England at The Oval Was. Of course, Pandya boasts of a strike-rate north of 145 in T20Is and is a match-winner with solely the batting of his day. But his current batting type has not been as much as the usual, because the tally of 127 runs in 12 matches within the IPL will attest.
This time, nonetheless, after a harsh awakening, the Indian think-tank is extra involved in regards to the group’s bowling imbalance and Thakur, who took 21 wickets in 16 matches throughout Chennai Super Kings’ title-winning marketing campaign this 12 months, is a might present. Solution.
A persistent again downside, which first got here to the fore through the Asia Cup recreation in opposition to Pakistan in Dubai three years in the past that pressured Pandya to stretch, has stalled the participant’s profession. However, for now, the main focus is on India’s back-up plan, with Thakur getting further minutes with the bat through the coaching session, and, not like a tail-ender, will get into the nets rapidly. Sunday’s match is a digital quarterfinal for India.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
