India vs South Africa 2022: Hardik Pandya returns, so does Team India’s balance – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

“Hardik improves the balance of the team. He was very good today.” These were the then-India skipper Virat Kohli’s words back in January 2019. India were playing an ODI series against New Zealand in New Zealand, and it wasn’t until the third ODI when Pandya, the all-rounder, made a return to the international arena.

Time and again, Team India’s balance in limited-overs cricket has been levelled on Hardik Pandya’s ability to bowl his quota of overs, and time and again, it has been every India captain’s wish to have Pandya’s all-round abilities on the table.

File image of Hardik Pandya. Sportzpics

As far as Hardik Pandya is concerned, January 2019 saw drama unfold off the field. On 12 January that year, Pandya and his India teammate KL Rahul were suspended for misogynistic comments on a TV show. Just a few days later, their suspensions were lifted and that paved the way back to the Indian team for Pandya.

Pandya would go onto collect bowling figures of 2/45 in the match, and the above quote was Virat Kohli’s after the fixture. Hardik did play the 2019 ODI World Cup in England, where he scalped 10 wickets, but what followed him was the recurrence of a back injury that had haunted him during the 2018 Asia Cup as well.

He underwent surgery in the UK, and it was not until November 2020 in the ODIs against Australia when he would make a come back to the Indian team, but this time, his lack of bowling, which usually lends India the balance, came under scrutiny.

Fast forward another two years, Hardik Pandya finds himself at a crucial juncture in his cricketing career.

IPL 2022 happened and Pandya led the debutants Gujarat Titans to glory in their first season, and it was Pandya-the-all-rounder who hogged limelight for his batting at No.4 and sharp bowling.

The 28-year-old picked up eight wickets from 15 games, while also producing 487 runs, and needless to say, he’ll be rearing to go once again in the upcoming home T20I series against South Africa.

‘Villain’ Hardik Pandya aims for redemption

“If Hardik doesn’t bowl, it disturbs the balance of the side hugely. You have to play an extra bowler because of that and someone like Suryakumar Yadav has to miss out. As we saw in the ODI series against England and Australia, we can’t play with five bowling options,” former national selector Sarandeep Singh was critical of Hardik Pandya when he said this in May 2021.

This was even before the T20 World Cup in UAE, where Hardik was labelled a ‘villain’ as India endured a horrific run.

Back in the 2021 T20 World Cup when India were knocked out of the group stages, a large part of the blame went to Hardik, who was labelled as a villain for his lack of ability to bowl.

Pandya only bowled in two of the games in the T20 World Cup (against New Zealand and Afghanistan), but ended wicketless in both of them.

Pandya was India’s sixth bowler against both the oppositions, but the case that India just managed to post 110 against the Kiwis did not help Hardik either, as India sustained to a heavy eight wicket defeat.

Meanwhile, cut to last year, Hardik had hinted bowling for a major part of the IPL 2021, but that was not meant to be. Hardik had not bowled a single ball in the IPL that year, and yet again, he had promised to bowl at the big stage, in the T20 World Cup. While he did bowl at a couple of occasions, he was far from perfect as far as his bowling was concerned, and something seemed quite off.

Hardik did bowl in one of the home ODIs against England last year, as well as against Sri Lanka in the Island nation, but that was his last ODI series and his absence against South Africa in South Africa was concerning for Team India.

India missed both Pandya and Jadeja during the ODI series against the Proteas, and the team management turned to Venkatesh Iyer for a change.

He played two of the ODIs, but hardly made much of an impact in those. That perfect balance for Team India went missing, and as a result India, under KL Rahul, were victims of a 0-3 series defeat.

For all those opportunities missed, Hardik will look to make this opportunity count and return a better cricketer come the end of the five-match South Africa T20Is. His recent form in the IPL should very well help him, and should he click as a bowler this time, Hardik Pandya’s redemption might not be that far away, and more importantly India would need the much-required team balance they have been craving.

After a successful IPL campaign, talks of Hardik-the-captain too are attracting attention but for now it should be about Hardik-the-allrounder. South Africa series is a perfect opportunity for Hardik to contribute with both bat and ball and return to the national colours in fine fashion.

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