BENGALURU: Hardik Pandya made his T20I debut for India on January 26, 2016. Almost 11 years later, India's principal seam-bowling all-rounder has featured in 138 games. When he's fit, he commands a spot in the XI. Of this, there's little doubt. He's a unicorn cricketer because of his capacity to bowl in different phases, including in the powerplay. He can also bat in different phases, including at the death, where he can unleash mayhem.
But… here’s the thing. He has missed over 100 T20I games since his debut (102 to be precise). Even as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have tried to hunt for replacements, they have not had a lot of success. Sure, you don’t get too many plug-and-play replacements for the 33-year-old, but at some stage, the team management will have to settle on somebody and give them an extended run in the side to at least allow them to grow into the role.
Out of India’s last 10 debutants in this format, five have been all-rounders (one of them, Naman Dhir, made his debut during the ongoing series against West Indies). While Nitish Kumar is the de facto pace-bowling all-rounder in Pandya’s absence, he’s still very much a work in progress. It’s likely that he will be in the scheme of things, even in ODIs, with a 50-over World Cup looming large considering Pandya’s fitness issues. But the 23-year-old himself has repeatedly been let down by his body. Since making his debut in this format in 2024, he has only represented India nine times (for perspective, India have played over 60 T20Is in this time period).
And even when he plays, there’s an unexplainable reticence when it comes to trusting him fully. In this series, for example, he has only featured in two of the four games. In the game at Hyderabad, he was the sixth bowler and only bowled three overs before coming out to bat at No. 7. He did the same thing in his other game at Indore: No. 7 with the bat and the sixth bowler, when he bowled two overs.
Last month, bowling coach Morne Morkel had fully backed Kumar's bowling skills. "I think Nitish, if we just rewind to the T20s, the way he bowled in different situations has been very impressive. The message to him all the time is just to keep things simple and do the basics as well as possible. I think he's a very talented guy when it comes to bat, ball and field. He always wants to be the guy who wants to create opportunities, and having that mindset is fantastic.
"I think the role that we want him to play in certain situations is: how can we ask him to be as consistent; how well can he fulfil just doing the basics as best as possible. I think that is another thing where we need to give him those opportunities to learn and grow." The South African had said before the first ODI against West Indies in Thiruvananthapuram.
How the team management handles this will be key because Pandya is one of the first names on the team sheet because his mere presence unlocks other possibilities. The hope is that Kumar, in time, can bring the same flexibility. If not, they may have a problem.
This problem has been visible across formats against West Indies over the last 20 days. If it’s to stop becoming an issue in the medium term, they have to find a permanent solution.
