All eyes on Pandya as India look to square series

Pandya’s elevation to captain for the T20I series against Ireland shows that he is doing a lot of things right.

"You can ask Hardik why he is not playing Ranji Trophy. We are seeing those who are playing and performing,” this was India’s Chief selector Chetan Sharma in February after Hardik Pandya was left out of India’s home series against Sri Lanka.

Indian player Hardik Pandya(PTI)

Pandya’s no show in last year’s T20 World Cup, his inability to bowl due to his troubled back had left the selectors red-faced, having picked him for the marquee event as an all-rounder to bowl his full quota. Pandya later said in interviews that he was picked as a batter.

From such public disagreements with the selector in chief to be named India captain for the upcoming T20I series against Ireland, Pandya’s rediscovery of form, fitness and mojo has all the makings of a comeback best-seller.

When Pandya, already a member of the team management - he is vice-captain for the series – steps on the field at Rajkot in the fourth T20I on Friday, he would get extra love from the Gujarati crowd. Pandya isn’t a Saurashtra native. He isn’t a Amdavadi (Ahmedabad resident) either.

Born in Surat, Pandya plays for Baroda, located at the eastern tip of Gujarat. But for all practical purposes, after Gujarat Titans’ IPL win, Pandya is the new symbol of Gujarati pride in Indian cricket. The tattooed showman is always known to have loved attention. He has now learned to ride the wave.

“Emotionally, it was more about the battle that I won against my own self,” Pandya told BCCI.tv ahead of the series, which marks his India comeback after the 2021 T20 WC. “A lot of things were said about me before I made a comeback. For me it was never about giving them answers. I was just proud of the process which I followed.

“No one knows exactly what I went through in the six months that I was off. I have gotten up at 5 in the morning to make sure that I train and the second time I train at 4pm so as to give myself enough rest. I slept for almost all those four months at 9.30 in the night. So, a lot of sacrifice was made. For me it was the battle I fought before I played the IPL.”

India’s team for the two T20Is against Ireland was picked late. The selectors may have wanted to be doubly sure before electing him captain, if Pandya could carry his IPL form to international cricket, again. In the opening match in Delhi, he returned to once familiar position of being a finisher and smashed an unbeaten 31 of 12 balls.

After missing out at Cuttack, he walked in to bat in the 14th over at Visakhapatnam and managed to push the scoring rate up with a 31* of 21 balls, when others were finding it difficult to find the boundaries. Pandya's short arm jabs, his use of long levers are there for all to see again as the power-hitter is back shouldering the tricky responsibility of scoring lower-middle order runs.

FUTURE GAINS

India would hope, the other comeback man Dinesh Karthik finds his range too. That would give this Rishabh Pant-led team the extra edge they need to beat the South Africans.

The visitors, who are leading the five-match series 2-1, have been equals in every sense, matching India blow-by-blow, largely on the back of some power-packed batting displays from Rassie van der Dussan, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller.

“This is a sort of final for us,” pacer Anrich Nortje said on match eve. “We didn’t perform well in the last game or anything like what we are capable of. This would be like a second chance and we need to seal the series. Not give (India) any opportunity or a sniff of a chance.”

For India, after a poor display in the first game, the bowlers are back in the groove led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s swing, Harshal Patel’s bag of tricks and Yuzvendra Chahal’s guile.

The leg-spinner did speak about Rajkot having longer boundaries. If the match situation allows, expect him to give the ball air in search of wickets. India is playing to stay alive and wouldn’t want to go down at home. But the think tank would be having one eye on the net gains from the series with this year’s World Cup in mind.

Ishan Kishan has got runs with the bat, Shreyas Iyer and Pant would like some more. Pandya - the bowler is yet to stamp his authority. But the tide has turned for the Baroda all-rounder. It may not be long.