ANALYSIS
Follow UsToss time, 3rd ODI, India Tour of Windies, 2023.
“It’s okay. I like to be unique.”
This is what Hardik Pandya replied when Darren Ganga reminded him that he might potentially become the first Indian captain to lose a bilateral ODI series against the Windies in more than a decade.
As expected, all social media platforms were inundated with memes, implying that Hardik is a braggart trying to (unsuccessfully) emulate Dhoni’s trademark deadpan irreverence.
As it turned out, India won the 3rd ODI by 200 runs. Pandya scored 72* off 55 balls!
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India vs. Pakistan, Asia Cup 2023
The Men In Blue are struggling. Pakistani pacers are like dragons, breathing out rockets with raging heat. The scorecard reads 66-4 in 14.1 overs. Rain has already enforced one break, and India has lost four batters along with their batting rhythm. On the opposite end is young Ishan Kishan who is playing out of place at number 5 as KL Rahul’s replacement.
Pandya starts off cautiously, just like he has been doing since becoming Gujarat Titan’s captain in the IPL. However, the restraint was just precautionary. Pandya had a plan, or rather, Babar allowed him the time to have a plan by not attacking Pandya with his pacers from both ends.
Pandya milked the spinners down the ground for easy singles and just played out Haris Rauf. He was removed just two overs after India’s vice-captain arrived at the crease. Babar started operating with spin from both ends. On a two-paced pitch with significant seam movement, it was like offering sweet lassi after forcefully shoving down a spicy sambal in the Indian batter's throat.
Hardik scored 49 in 45 balls against the spinners with more than 90% control. When Shaheen Afridi was brought back in the attack along with Rauf and Naseem, Hardik was already set. He ended his innings at 87 off 90 balls. 239 Indian runs glimmered hopefully on the scorecard as Pandya dragged himself off the field.
It wasn’t the first time that Hardik had played a pivotal innings in a pressure situation against a top team. He has delivered such ‘unique’ performances quite often.
In the 13 innings where he has come inside 25 overs in an ODI with the team's score reading less than 100, he has scored 743 runs at an average of 57.2*.
When you google ‘synonyms of unique’, 27 distinct words show up in the results. But Hardik is not only ‘unique’, he is idiosyncratic, eccentric, special, novel and all the remaining 23 of those adjectives.
Ishan’s dazzling dash to a World Cup Dream
If Hardik played a steady innings from one end to keep India in the game after the early lightning strikes, it was Kishan who played in a commandeering fashion. He came in to bat in the 10th over with the team three down and still slashed his 7th ball for a six over third-man.
Until Kishan came, all Indian batters except Shreyas had looked tentative on the crease against the Pakistani pacers, whose fiery spells were reminiscent of their predecessors from the 90s. There was little swing, but a lot of seam and plentyyy of pace. Rohit was bowled. King Kohli inside-edged a ball onto his stumps. Prince Gill followed his King to the pavilion with a similar dismissal.
Ishan continued to play in the fashion he started, scoring consistently at run a ball. It seemed like he (along with Hardik) was batting in Karachi, not Kandy. He attacked his favourable match-ups - leggie Shadab and left-arm orthodox Nawaz, scoring 53 off 45 balls against them with near-perfect control.
He was looking well set for a century when he skied a ball on 82 and was caught out. India’s score then was 204 in 37.3 overs. Hardik and Ishan’s partnership of 138 runs in 141 balls ensured that India reached 266 despite being in tatters at 66-4.
Additionally, it was now evident that in Kishan, India had a two-pronged weapon in the squad offering two distinct advantages - one, he can bat anywhere in the lineup, and two, he gives a left-handed option in a batting order full of right-handed batters. The fact that he also can be the wicketkeeper is a bonus.
Kishan showed that he is a one-capsule solution for Rohit and Dravid’s multiple selection headaches going into the World Cup. The quality imbued in that 82-run innings from him was a testament to that.
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After India’s innings, the rain gods decided it was enough of India - Pakistan razzmatazz for the day. Water poured from the skies incessantly, as the clash that began with a bang, ended with a whimper.
But not before Pandya showed his ‘uniqueness’, and Ishan took a dazzling dash towards his World Cup dream.
*Stats Inputs by Anirudh Kasargod
