Who was Hardik Pandya before IPL 2018? A seam-bowling all-rounder who could smash the ball a long way but was notorious for his extravagant economy rates. Now, almost a month into this year’s IPL, where does he stand?
One of the leading wicket-takers, who has shown remarkable maturity in his batting approach.
So, what has led to his transformation from a swashbuckler into a mature and thinking cricketer, who has become an important cog in his side’s success going forward into the tournament?
Let’s find out.
Early Days
Hardik made quick strides in the international arena as he broke into the Indian Test squad within eighteen months of his T20I debut against Australia in January 2016. In the period between July and December 2017, he was a regular feature in the Indian playing XI across the formats.
While he was impressive with the bat in this period, his bowling was patchy with the T20s back home against Sri Lanka in December being his only noteworthy series with the ball where he took 6 wickets from 3 games at an average of 12.83.
A dismal show on the tour of South Africa earlier this year, where he could only manage 10 wickets from 12 games across formats and a solitary noteworthy inning of 93 runs with the bat warranted some serious scrutiny of his game.
In order to manage his workload, the selectors gave him a break from the national duties during the Nidahas Trophy – the triangular T20 tournament which India won after defeating Bangladesh in the final.
A Break to Instrospect
That break was a much-needed one as he got some time off from his cricketing duties and was able to invest that time in rejuvenating his body while scrutinising the shortcomings that were hampering his growth as an all-rounder.
The first thing he needed to do was to perfect the execution of his skills that were in the developing stage. His new weapons like cutters, slower short balls, yorkers, and nippy deliveries from the back of the length needed some finishing touches and the break served as a perfect opportunity to hone those skills ahead of an important IPL season.
The second thing was that his style of batting needed slight tinkering. He needed to show more maturity and responsibility as his hitting-it-out style from the word go was hampering his consistency with the bat.
IPL 2018: The Transistion
He came into this year’s IPL as a senior player in the Mumbai Indians setup and after playing nine games in the tournament, has executed his role to near perfection, taking 14 wickets at a very good average of 16.8. His economy is a touch on the higher side with 8.49 runs an over but he can compensate that with his big hitting abilities. On the batting front, he has a good average of almost 34 for his 169 runs in the tournament.
So that brings us back to our original question, what has changed in him this season?
The answer lies in his improved ability to execute those bowling variations that were in a developing stage since past one year. The short ball is no more the only potent weapon in his repertoire. In fact, his wickets in the tournament have come off a variety of deliveries from his bowling arsenal. A stand out feature has been the use of slower ball which accounts for almost half of his wickets. The fact that he got Ben Stokes out on a pacy dipping yorker speaks volumes of the improvement in his bowling. His short ball has also gained in accuracy and has troubled the batsmen consistently.
His batting reflects a more mature side of him, who is not going after the bowling from the word go but is ready to adjust his game as the situation demands.
His knocks against Bangalore (50 of 42 balls) and Kolkata (35 of 20 balls) exemplify the change in his batting. He has transformed himself into a thinking cricketer who does his homework diligently, makes plans to succeed, and then executes those plans almost perfectly to win games for his team. The execution part was patchy prior to this IPL and he seems to have ironed out that chink in his armour.
He is still very young and will have a lot of learning coming his way in the future but the changes that we are witnessing in this year’s IPL is really a welcome sign for Mumbai Indians, in particular, and Indian cricket in general. When improved upon further, these changes can help him become the perfect seam-bowling all-rounder that India has craved for so long since the retirement of Haryana Hurricane Kapil Dev.
(The writer is an avid follower and passionate writer who can't get enough of cricket to satisfy his hunger for the game and is trying to make a mark in the field of cricket writing.)
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