India’s premier all-rounder Hardik Pandya seems to have overcome the testing times that prevailed the past two months, especially when he returned to the Mumbai Indians, replacing Rohit Sharma as skipper and was subsequently subjected to boos wherever the franchise was playing, including MI’s home ground of the Wankhede Stadium.
With results not going Mumbai Indians’ way, the public backlash only grew louder and stronger as MI crashed out from the race to the Playoffs. But times have changed, and on Wednesday, it was evident that the Hardik in India jersey is a completely different cricketer than the Hardik in MI Blues.
Hardik has so far ticked all boxes. He began by scoring a blazing 40 against Bangladesh in the warm-up game and followed it with figures of 3/27 against Ireland. However, Hardik’s mind would have remotely harked back to the Wankhede jeering when, after Wednesday’s match, he was asked by the broadcaster, “It feels like Mumbai here in New York. Is it fun?” referring to the number of Indians that had turned up to watch the game.
But Hardik handled the question like a pro, saying, “It’s really fun. It’s always fantastic to see the crowd always coming and supporting us. We Indians are everywhere. We rule the world so it’s good to have so much support. So thanks to them.”
On Wednesday, Hardik first cleaned Lorcan Tucker with a fuller delivery that jagged back in after pitching before getting Curtis Campher out caught behind. He added another one to his wickets tally by getting rid of Mark Adair to become India’s joint third-highest wicket-taker in the T20 World Cups. With 16 wickets, he is tied with Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan, with Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja ahead of him.
“Always special to play for the country, always good to play for pride. I have been able to contribute in the World Cups; God has been kind. That was an outstanding effort by Axar; those are the catches when you let your hand-eye coordination in. I really liked the first wicket, don’t hit the stumps often as I usually bowl short of a length. I needed to be fuller than back of a length today. On this kind of surface, you need to be disciplined and hit the right areas,” said Hardik.
Heading into the big game against Pakistan, Hardik’s form will be crucial for India. The last two times India played Pakistan at the World Cups, Hardik scored a vital 40 off 37 balls in Melbourne and picked up 2/34 in Ahmedabad.