The 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) is over with Gujarat Titans emerging as the champions of the 15th season. Focus now shifts to national duty with India set to play a five-match T20I series against South Africa at home starting June 9. The series will mark the beginning of the second half of India's preparation for the T20 World Cup later in October. And ahead of the series, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has an “explosive” suggestion for India head coach Rahul Dravid.
The series will mark the return of Hardik Pandya to the Indian team for the first time since 2021 T20 World Cup following which he was rehabilitating from his back injury. However, following his impressive performance as an all-rounder in the IPL 2022, the selectors rewarded him with an India call-up.
Hailing his performance in the tournament, where Pandya had led Gujarat to title victory, Gavaskar told Star Sports that if Hardik and Risbabh Pant can bat at No.5 and 6 for India, the team will have the ability to score almost 120 runs in just 6 overs.
"I think he'll probably be slotted at five or six. Just imagine, if India has a Hardik Pandya and a Rishabh Pant at five or six. They can probably swap around a little bit -- that is going to be some explosive combination from the 14th to the 20th over. In six overs, you can probably expect even may be 100-120 runs. They are capable of doing that. So, that's going to be an exciting aspect. That's something I'm really looking forward to -- Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya batting at five or six," Gavaskar said.
{{/usCountry}}"I think he'll probably be slotted at five or six. Just imagine, if India has a Hardik Pandya and a Rishabh Pant at five or six. They can probably swap around a little bit -- that is going to be some explosive combination from the 14th to the 20th over. In six overs, you can probably expect even may be 100-120 runs. They are capable of doing that. So, that's going to be an exciting aspect. That's something I'm really looking forward to -- Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya batting at five or six," Gavaskar said.
{{/usCountry}}Hardik scored 487 runs in IPL 2022 at at an average of 44.27 and a strike-rate of 131.27. He also picked eight wickets at an economy rate of 7.28.