T20 World Cup: How Rohit Sharma helped Hardik Pandya get his mojo back

16/06/2024

Troubled seam-bowling allrounder seems to have laid all controversies to rest and found a way to contribute on the biggest stage

MIAMI: Hardik Pandya has endured a lot in recent times. It all started with an injury in the ODI World Cup which cost him his T20 captaincy. That was followed by a disastrous million-dollar move to Mumbai Indians which led to internal rift in the team and reportedly, some not-too-happy vibes with Rohit Sharma.

T20 WORLD CUP: SCHEDULE | POINTS TABLEThe horrible show in the IPL by the five-time champions didn't help. Hardik's own performances were poor as well. His personal life, too, allegedly went for a toss. Question marks were raised about his inclusion in the team for the T20 World Cup. The BCCI, however, kept the faith in the star allrounder and now, slowly, Hardik is finding his mojo just when it matters the most.

In the three World Cup games so far, Pandya has registered figures of 2-24, 3-27 and 2-14, albeit all in extremely favourable conditions.

However, he has shown the happy knack of bowling the difficult overs, the 17th against Pakistan being a case in point.

Team India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey was particularly happy with the way Hardik kept trying even when the chips were down.

"I'm definitely sure about one thing, he has confidence in his ability. Sometimes there's no rhythm in a tournament (IPL), sometimes, even if you try, the rhythm doesn't come, it takes time…that was a phase where the rhythm didn't come," Mhambrey said.

While Hardik did his bit to get his rhythm back, there's somebody else who also deserves a bit of credit - his captain Rohit. His personal differences with Hardik following the batter's ouster as MI captain has been speculated on every platform, but when it came to choosing the Indian team, Rohit kept all that aside.

He knew four allrounders would be his best bet in the World Cup, and for that he needed Hardik to deliver.

"Four allrounders allow me the flexibility and in all probability, we are going to stick to that," Rohit had said before India's game against Pakistan.

Hardik, too, knew this could be his last chance, and that pushed him to go 100 % in every training session, a fact lauded by Mhambrey. "It would have been worrisome if he hadn't put in the hard work. But we noticed that despite the difficult times, his work ethic never took a beating. He kept bowling a lot and that meant the rhythm would return, especially when he understands his own bowling so well," Mhambrey said.

Despite going for runs in IPL, Hardik tried bowling difficult overs, even after being taken apart quite brutally by MS Dhoni. But as Mhambrey pointed out, it was the confidence in his own ability that stood the allrounder in good stead. "If you compare his rhythm in the IPL and the rhythm now, you can see he has got it back," Mhambrey added.

Once the bowling bit is sorted, Hardik needs to score a few runs with the bat as well.

India are now moving to the West Indies, where the conditions will be more favourable for the batters compared to the United States. All the team needs from him is a couple of cameos over the next five games and Hardik could well become one of the heroes of this World Cup.

INDIA-CANADA GAME CALLED OFF DUE TO WET OUTFIELD

The crowds had come in, the enthusiasm was there, but the rains that south Florida had endured over the last few days was good enough for India's last group game against Canada to be called off at Broward Park.

It didn't rain on Saturday, but the Friday afternoon downpour that had washed out USA's game against Ireland had damaged the outfield so much that India's game couldn't be started despite the best efforts of the groundsmen. India finished on top in Group A. They will now face Afghanistan in the Super-8 stage in Barbados on June 20.

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