In his 25-match ODI career, Hardik Pandya has batted in the middle and lower-middle order. It was during the tour of Caribbean soon after the Champions Trophy when the all-rounder was first sent at No. 4. In the ongoing series against Australia, Hardik has batted at two-down position in two of the four matches.
In the third ODI at Indore, Hardik was sent at No. 4 and the first ball he faced of spin was smashed for a six. In the first ODI, he had hit three sixes and a four in one over bowled by Adam Zampa.
In the Bengaluru ODI, Hardik was again sent at No. 4 to go after the spinner and this time the fourth ball he faced was dispatched for a massive six. Hardik made 41 from 40 balls and shared a 78-run stand with Kedar Jadhav but untimely dismissals coupled with disciplined death bowling resulted in Australia securing their first win of the series.
While Hardik was sent in to upset the spinner’s rhythm and force him out of the equation, captain Virat Kohli hinted that the experiment may result in India handing a regular spot at No.4 to the all-rounder. “For now, it’s to go after the spinner, push the spinner out of the attack and get the quicks to come into the game earlier. He’s done that well. In this game as well, he batted pretty nicely.
“It might be a regular option, you never know. (The) guy has got a solid game, he’s got good defence. He’s got the technique, he’s not just a slogger. I think if he gains more confidence and understands how to take the game till the end and finish it more often, you never know he might be a regular at that spot.”
India made three changes to their playing XI and Virat justified the decision of trying out different bowling combinations. Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Axar Patel played their first game of the series. In fact, Shami played his first ODI at home in three years. “We've won the series and you have to try guys out at some stage. You need to test your bench strength as well and you need to give those guys game time. I think Umesh bowled well, even Shami bowled well. Umesh even picked up four wickets and it would have been a bit more than what he would have expected himself. But we only lost by 20-odd in the end.”
The Indian captain said that it would be unfair to blame the bowlers on a surface where there was nothing in it for them. “I the wicket was really good to bat on and from that point of view, you have to give them a bit of an advantage there. But in hindsight, if you lose, I'm not someone who sits and thinks maybe I shouldn't have done this. You try, you go for something and if it doesn't work make another plan and you go for it again putting all your belief in it. That's exactly what I think and what the whole squad thinks.”
He gave credit to Australian bowlers for managing to get regular breakthroughs. “There are a few positives we can take from this game. The wicket was such that one team had to bat better than the other. But I think Australia’s bowling was quite good. They got breakthroughs at the right time and that really stopped our momentum, especially when Kedar and Hardik were going well.
“If they had put on 40-50 more it would have been ideal for us. That’s exactly what we were seeking but things don’t go your way all the time. We have been playing really well. We played well today as well with the bat. With the ball we could have been better. We have to understand the opposition played a much better game of cricket. We take positives out of it and move ahead.”
