Hardik Pandya finds a higher batting slot, a new gear
The finisher for India and in IPL before his back injury, ha has reinvented himself as an enforcer up the order for Gujarat Titans.
Hardik Pandya earned his stripes by playing those cameos down the order for India and Mumbai Indians. This season, Pandya 2.0 has taken up the challenge of batting higher up the order, and with each innings he is pushing his case to be recalled as the main pace-bowling all-rounder come the T20 World Cup in Australia in October-November. (<strong>Follow IPL 2022 Coverage</strong>)
On Saturday, skipper Pandya played another responsible innings—49-ball 67—to guide Gujarat Titans to a challenging total against Kolkata Knight Riders. They defended the total in the end for their sixth win in seven matches, moving to the top of the standings with 12 points.
It was Pandya’s third half-century on the trot. He scored a 42-ball 50 against Sunrisers Hyderabad and a 52-ball 87 against Rajasthan Royals.
Saturday’s knock moved him to second on the scoring chart behind Jos Buttler with 295 runs in six matches. If he keeps going at this pace, he can easily improve on his IPL best of 402 runs in 16 matches for Mumbai Indians in 2019.
Having batted at No. 4 in the first five matches, Pandya walked in at No.3 against KKR in the second over and played some sublime shots through his innings. The ones that stood out included an exquisite cut through point off Tim Southee at the start of his innings and a six over long-off off spinner Varun Chakravarthy.
He struggled initially to adjust to his new batting position but as the matches have progressed, he has grown confident in his role. Over the past three knocks he has played according to the situation, chosen his battles well and has emerged as one of the most reliable middle-order batters in this IPL edition.
Right from when he was breaking into IPL with MI, and later with the Indian team, Pandya has liked to be in limelight and take responsibility. At GT, he is getting an opportunity to do both.
His knock against RR was a perfect example of him getting used to his new role of building the innings before opening his shoulders. He walked in at 15/2 and negated the initial threat before tearing into RR bowlers. He was primed to do that against KKR but be aggravated a groin injury--he missed the last match, against Chennai Super Kings—while going for a quick single late in the match. The injury hampered him and he holed out in the deep. If not for that he was perfectly placed to take on the KKR bowlers—after all death overs is the place where he has thrived over the years with clean hitting.
His newfound middle-order prowess and ability to chip in with useful overs—if not his full quota—brightens his India return.
Pandya is enjoying it as well. “I am not used to batting this long. Two games in a row I have batted 15 and 17 overs. But I like it. It gives me time. I can calculate and take the right risks. I think in the last game it didn't come off how I wanted but today I made sure I had a sense of approach where I was ready to take on bowlers,” Pandya told Star Sports after his knock against RR.
Former Indian pacer Irfan Pathan felt the responsibility of captaincy is bringing out the best from Pandya. He would be the ideal batter at No. 4 for India.
“This is a new Hardik. This is a better version of him. It was nice to see the situations in which he has played this season. The good thing about him is that he is batting responsibly at No 4. You don't get to take too many chances after wickets fall early but the way Pandya played, he didn’t shy away from playing big strokes early in his innings for GT. Whether it is India or GT, Pandya is the most suited batsman at No 4. This is because he can take the responsibility,” said Pathan on Star Sports.
Former India opener Aakash Chopra said: “He didn’t play a lot of cricket before IPL because he was trying to get fully fit. (Now) look at the discipline he's showing in his batting. He's batting well in the Powerplay and making full use of the field restrictions and he’s doing exceedingly well in the field (while captaining). So, basically that thinking cap is on. And once that happens, your game just goes up.”
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