Former India fielding coach R Sridhar stressed on the importance of having all-rounder Hardik Pandya in all major ICC tournaments and marquee series. Sridhar wants the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to manage his workload to prolong his career. Selectors and head coach Gautam Gambhir chose Hardik over him as Rohit Sharma’s successor as T20I captain due to his struggle with fitness. He backed Hardik to make a comeback after captaincy snub.
“I am sure Hardik will come back. He has just won you a World Cup, bowling that two crucial overs between 16 and 20. The last over obviously was fabulous from an Indian perspective. If he has got niggles, he will come back like how he has before. But Hardik is somebody rare to find, a cricketer like him is rare to find. We can take good care of him till the time he is playing cricket and making sure he is available for the marquee series and all the big ICC tournaments,” Sridhar told Hindustan Times.
Hardik provided the crucial breakthrough in the form of Heinrich Klaasen in the T20 World Cup 2024 final. He bowled the final over as well and got the wicket of David Miller, courtesy Suryakumar Yadav’s astonishing catch on the boundary. Hardik’s miraculous comeback, especially after a horrid Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season as Mumbai Indians (MI) captain, helped India end the 11-year-drought of ICC trophies.
Why Surya was preferred over Hardik
Sridhar also spoke about why Suryakumar was preferred over Hardik. He lauded Suryakumar for his performances in the IPL and on T20I stage.
“I think the reason was addressed by the chairman of the selection committee Ajit Agarkar in the media itself. The very fact that Surya is someone who will be on the park for every match India is playing and not being bothered about workload monitoring is something which has tilted the scales in his favour, in terms of captaincy. Some of the matches he has captained India, when Rohit and Hardik were not available, has given confidence to the BCCI that he can do an excellent job,” he said.
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“He has been vice-captain and was at KKR before that when Gambhir was the captain, he's obviously been good with Mumbai Indians when they need him. He is someone who has exhibited leadership qualities throughout his tenure of being with the Indian team. That's held him in good stead, again falling back to his rapport with the other players, how they look up to him. He is the no. 1 T20 batter in the world, that is something which goes in his favour as well. The confidence, the ability to lead the team both on and off the field, the availability of the player for all matches, his cricketing acumen, all these factors have tilted the scales in his favour,” added the 54-year-old.
After a break, Hardik returned to play in the three-T20I series against Sri Lanka. He played two of the three matches and helped India win the series 3-0. Reportedly, he had opted out of the ODI series citing personal reasons. He will be back in action on the international stage in October for the home T20I series against Bangladesh.
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