‘I have been working on fine-tuning my action’ – Hardik Pandya ‘coping really well’ with extra workload

‘I have been working on fine-tuning my action’ – Hardik Pandya ‘coping really well’ with extra workload

Hardik Pandya

India completed a clinical series win to hand England only their second T20I series defeat in the last three years. The hosts adapted gracefully following two defeats to take the series home 3-2. Indian captain Virat Kohli was adjudged the man of the series for his 231 runs in the series, most by any batsman in a T20I series.

The series finale saw India outplay the visitors in all facets of the game. Batting first, the hosts staked up a mammoth total of 224 riding on half-centuries from Rohit Sharma and Kohli. At one point, England were well on track to win the game before the hosts came back with a flurry of wickets in the death overs.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of the bowlers as he finished with figures of 2 for 15. While Kumar was adjudged the Man of the Match for his effort, Shardul Thakur too chipped in with three wickets at the fag end.

The return of all rounder Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya

The highlight of the series was the return of Hardik Pandya to bowling duties. The lanky all-rounder bowled his full quota in all four matches and was impressive on all occasions. Pandya hadn’t had bowled in competitive cricket for over an year. He shares that his body has been doing well with the extra workload.

“I have been working on fine-tuning my action, but at the end of the day, you are thinking of what kind of delivery you want to bowl. It’s slightly difficult but I am coping really well. When I bat I think as a batsman and when I bowl I think as a bowler.“

“Looking at the World Cup, in this series we wanted to try out a few things and also to break the jinx of batting first and winning, feels really great. The wicket allowed us to use more variations and make sure that the batsmen are not getting anything in their zone,” Pandya said at the post-match presentation.

Although Pandya, the bowler was not quite effective in the decider it was the batsman in him that chipped in. The Baroda all-rounder played a splendid cameo of 39 off just 17 balls to help India give a big finish. Pandya was a bit on the costly side with the ball but he did scalp the big wicket of Eoin Morgan.

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