India vs Australia: “His game awareness is second to none” – Ravi Shastri hails Hardik Pandya following white ball heroics


India vs Australia: “His game awareness is second to none” – Ravi Shastri hails Hardik Pandya following white ball heroics

Hardik Pandya

Ravi Shastri in conversation with Hardik Pandya
Ravi Shastri and Hardik Pandya

Returning to international cricket after a gap of 14 months, Hardik Pandya took the white ball series against Australia by storm. Playing as a specialist batsman, Pandya played a couple of match-defining innings in the ODI series. He then went to carry his superb form into the T20Is. After being played down by pundits around the world upon his inclusion into the side as a specialist batsman.

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The all-rounder silenced the critics as he finished as the top-scoring batsman for India in the ODI series. Pandya smashed 210 runs in three innings at an average of 105. Coming to the T20I series, Pandya scored 78 runs in three innings at an average of 39. His brilliant strike-rate of 156.00 was the highlight of the series as he was named the Man of the Series. Pandya’s inspiring performance on comeback has garnered praise for him from all corners of the cricketing fraternity.

Hardik is one of the cleanest strikers of the ball

Hardik Pandya

India coach Ravi Shastri is glad the way the side performed in Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah‘s absence. Shatri commended the players for stepping up in the absence of their premier players. The former India all-rounder went on to hail Pandya’s match awareness. The Vadodara all-rounder calmly finished a last-ball thriller at Sydney to hand India an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the series.

Winning the T20s without Rohit and Bumrah was a huge achievement. What’s essentially working beautifully for this team is players standing up to these responsibilities. In that, Hardik has been a natural. His game awareness is second to none. He’s one of the cleanest strikers of the ball I’ve seen in the game,” Shastri was quoted as saying by TOI.

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Pandya’s impressive white-ball form tempted pundits to call for his comeback in all whites. But with him, not bowling owing to the back surgery, the team management decided to cut the all-rounder loose ahead of the Test series. Pandya was also keen to spend time with his family following a long run in the bio bubble which started in the IPL.

Also read : Rohit Sharma passes fitness test at the NCA