Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra feels that Hardik Pandya is irreplaceable in the Indian playing XI for the highly-anticipated clash against Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday. He further added that pacer Shardul Thakur, who is believed to be in the race to replace the all-rounder in the lineup, should rather play in place of Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
India made one final change in their T20 World Cup squad - promoting Shardul from the reserves list, replacing him with Axar Patel. He performed impressively for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2021, picking 21 wickets, and over the last 12 months has shown his ability with the bat as well.
Shardul's all-round ability, amid Hardik's inconsistency owing to prolonged fitness issues, has raised the question over the latter's place in the India XI for the T20 World Cup. But Aakash feels that Hardik is certain to play while questioning Shardul's ability to bat in the shortest format of the game.
"Shardul Thakur cannot play in place of Hardik Pandya. Where has he [Shardul] scored runs in T20s? For whom? He has not played a knock like that for CSK as well and let's be honest, we don't have an all-rounder," Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
"Shardul cannot bat at No.6 and No.7 is also too high for him if you keep Jaddu at No.6. We have only seen his run-scoring form in Test cricket. So Hardik is certain to play."
{{/usCountry}}"Shardul cannot bat at No.6 and No.7 is also too high for him if you keep Jaddu at No.6. We have only seen his run-scoring form in Test cricket. So Hardik is certain to play."
{{/usCountry}}"It is not about form over reputation, it is just about what you have. So the expectation is, fingers crossed, that Hardik Pandya's bat fires and makes a lot of noise, but you don't have an option."
The veteran cricketer rather believes that Shardul's competition is against Bhuvneshwar in the lineup.
"I want to play Shardul but instead of Bhuvi. That's the competition that they are having, it is actually not a competition between Shardul and Hardik at all. The balance will be off if you drop Hardik and send everyone a slot up the order. You will get a sixth bowling option but the batting will shrink suddenly."