“Hardik Pandya will retire after…”- Ravi Shastri on Hardik Pandya’s ODI future


“Hardik Pandya will retire after…”- Ravi Shastri on Hardik Pandya’s ODI future

Hardik Pandya and Ravi Shastri

Hardik Pandya is one of the best all-rounders in the cricketing world right now. He has the ability to scalp five wickets in a match as well as smash the balls outside the boundary and score a 50 with the strike rate of above 150. Pandya has debuted in 2016 and has appeared in two ICC events, ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 and ICC World Cup in 2019. His all-rounder performance made awarded him the Player of the Match in the ODI series against England.

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But the recent incident, when England all-rounder Ben Stokes bid adieu to cricket, there were concerns expressed by many about the load on the cricketers playing all-formats. The England cricket Test captain, who is regarded as the finest all-rounder in modern cricket, claimed that playing all-formats is ‘unsustainable’ for him and that he only wants to focus on Test and T20Is.

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“He is very clear in his mind”- Ravi Shastri on Hardik Pandya’s playing T20 cricket

Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya

This made ex-India head coach Ravi Shastri thinking that Hardik Pandya might retire from ODIs as well after the ICC World Cup 2023. He expressed that Hardik Pandya is very clear in his mind that he wants to play T20 cricket. Apart from Shastri, many members of the cricket community have expressed that ODI format is in danger because Test will always remain at its plays because of the importance it brings to the game. T20 cricket is fast format and a very interesting one too; so ODI is in danger.

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“50-over format might be pushed back but it can still survive if you focus just on the World Cup. From the ICC’s point of view, paramount importance should be given to World Cups, whether it is T20 World Cup or 50-over World Cup, the bucks have to increase. Test cricket will always remain because of the importance it brings to the game. You have players already choosing what formats they want to play. Take a Hardik Pandya. He wants to play T20 cricket and he is very clear in his mind that ‘I do not want to play anything else,” said Shastri on Sky Sports.

“He will play the 50-over cricket because there is a World Cup in India next year. After that, you might see him going from that as well. You will see a similar thing happening with other players, they will start choosing formats, they have every right to,” the ex-Indian head coach added.

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