CHENNAI: We know that he can be handful the bat. We also know that he can bowl at a nippy pace.
But during India’s second innings against England in their first Test, Hardik Pandya literally failed to register a blip on the radar, both with his blade and the red cherry.
As Sam Curran bludgeoned England out of trouble in the second innings, India’s fourth pacer ended with figures of 0-0-0-0; indicative of Virat Kohli’s confidence in Pandya the run-stemmer. As Ben Stokes snuffed out India’s last spark of batting resistance, Pandya the batsman was the last to exit. A tame dab away from the body had landed flush in the hands of Alastair Cook at first slip. In 18 overs, England had snatched victory.
“We have this habit of looking at performances in shorter formats and using them to justify Test berths for players. The longest format is a completely different ball game,” remarked former India pace-bowling all-rounder Madan Lal.
“The same has happened for Hardik; those Kapil Dev comparisons and all. He’s talented, no doubt, but he still has a lot to learn in terms of reading situations and reacting accordingly.”
That observation by Lal was reified by 18 balls — match-defining ones, for that matter — of India’s chase: overs 47 to 49. Stokes had just taken out Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami, and Pandya took guard against Curran. Instead of him farming the strike, Ishant Sharma was the one doing it. The same happened in the next over of Stokes, and in the next of Adil Rashid, in the last ball of which Ishant fell on the sword he’d been flailing around for his 15-ball 11.
Pandya’s first-innings stint too, for that matter, had discomfort stamped all over it. He was constantly squared up by Curran and Stokes, before the latter eventually trapped him in front with a toe-crusher. “As Kohli showed in the first innings, he knows how to assess the tempo of the situation and adjust his game accordingly (he scored 92 off 117 with India’s tailenders). Hardik was in a similar scenario, but he failed to change gears.
He should have shielded Ishant. With only one batsman (Umesh Yadav) left, he should have tried to take the game on by himself. He didn’t do that either. One thing he needs to learn is putting a prize on his wicket,” reflected Lal. “Even as a bowler, Kohli perhaps doesn’t have faith in him because he’s not that consistent, especially with his length.”
Birmingham isn’t the only instance that exposed the aforementioned deficiencies that have cropped up in Pandya’s nascent Test career.
Outside the subcontinent, his batting average dips from 35.08 to 21.05. Remove his 93 in Cape Town, and that number plummets to 11.29. In terms of throwing his wicket away, during the South Africa series alone Pandya was dismissed twice while attempting a ramp shot. That, and a lackadaisical, both-legs-in-air run out in Centurion.
Going by his overall career economy of 3.2, it wouldn’t be wrong to extrapolate that Pandya’s done what a fifth-bowler’s job entails: plug one end and keep strike bowlers fresh. Kohli has mostly used of Pandya in small spurts, but India have felt the repercussions of handing him more-prolonged stints.
Among the four innings in his career where he’s sent down 10 or more overs, three have an economy of 4, yielding only one wicket to boot.
With this in consideration, the fact that India’s management are no strangers to making constant changes to their playing XI, and the possibility of Lord’s churning out a dry pitch, Lal feels fielding an extra spinner in Kuldeep Yadav at the cost of Hardik could serve India.
“Kuldeep has shown the potential to be a big threat. If London does offer a surface with more purchase for tweakers, Ashwin and he will prove to be more than a handful for England.”
Rahul.ravi@newindianexpress.com