CHENNAI: The IPL was supposed to give us a surprise about Hardik Pandya. Or that's what he claimed before the tournament commenced. His bowling has been the talking point since the previous edition. A back injury meant he didn't even bowl in two successive seasons for Mumbai Indians and in India's early exit from the T20 World Cup last year, he bowled only four overs in five matches.
The end result of it was: he lost his place in the Indian team, where the selectors thought he wasn't good enough to be considered only a specialist batter and ahead of the IPL player auctions, even Mumbai Indians released him. In between, he sat out the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s, Vijay Hazare and Ranji Trophy for Baroda.
And here we are in a season where the auditions are underway for the World Cup slot. While there are still spots up for grabs, as the IPL nears the half-way stage, none of them have made as big a case for call-up as Pandya.
Apart from bowling in five of the seven matches Gujarat have played this season, Pandya is showing the other side of his batting skills. Primarily considered a power-hitter, Pandya's biggest strength has been his capability to hit sixes without buying time.
It is a trait not many Indian batters have and right through his IPL and India career, he has been billed for that role. More specifically the finisher's role, where he would get an opportunity to bat in the last three-four overs, and power the team to a big total or help them cross the line.
But with Gujarat Titans, a team that is so thin on batting resources, Pandya is showing he is capable of batting in other gears. Sample these numbers. 2.1 overs. 6.1 overs. 14.4 overs. 5.5 overs. 2.5 overs. 1.1 overs.
This is when Pandya has walked in to bat in the six innings he has batted (he missed one match with injury) and without his batting, it is hard to even think where Gujarat will be in the points table. On Saturday, courtesy his third successive fifty (67 off 49 balls) and a stellar effort from their bowlers, Gujarat overcame Kolkata Knight Riders by eights to consolidate their position at the top of the table.
The victory at the DY Patil Stadium was also the first instance of a team choosing to bat first after winning the toss, a trend that is looking to get more common as the season progresses as pitches begin to show wear and tear.
Given the conditions and Kolkata's attack, this was another special effort from Pandya. He is getting more and more time to spend in the middle and on Saturday, even promoted himself to No 3 leaving the middle-order responsibility to David Miller and Abhinav Manohar.
And he was judicious in his shot selection, choosing to play Sunil Narine safely and go after the other bowlers. For a batter who is known to be destructive to deliveries in his slot, he has retained the trait, but not at the expense of being adventurous. He has had to take the team out of trouble, set up a base, and even tee-off in the end, and Pandya is doing all of it. The bowling, needless to say, is an added bonus.
And with regards to comeback to the Indian team, this is where Pandya thinks he is: "I don't think it is my comeback any way. And secondly, I don't focus on my comeback. I focus on the games I play. If I'm playing IPL, I will focus on IPL and see where the future takes. And it’s never in my hands. So as I said, I don't focus on comebacks and let me focus on the team I'm playing in and we are doing pretty well and I'm very happy," he said.
Brief Scores: Gujarat Titans: 156 for 9 in 20 overs (Hardik Pandya 67, Andre Russell 4/5) defeated Kolkata Knight Riders: 148 for 8 in 20 overs (Andre Russell 48, Mohammed Shami 2/20, Rashid Khan 2/22) by 8 runs