In This Series We Wanted To Try Out A Few Things - Hardik Pandya On Team India Breaking The Jinx Of Winning While Batting First

Team India gained several positives from their 3-2 T20I series victory over England, one of the key gains from the series was the bowling of Hardik Pandya. Owing to his back injury issues, Hardik Pandya has rarely bowled before this series since the 2019 World Cup.

He delivered 17 overs in the series; while the seamer could pick only 3 wickets, however, his economy of 6.94 – better than every bowler in the series barring Bhuvneshwar Kumar – is admirable and gives immense confidence to Virat Kohli and management going into the World Cup.

Not only Pandya has emerged as a useful sixth bowler, but he was even used as a fifth bowler in the series – he did the job extremely well, especially while bowling with the wet ball in the death overs. The Mumbai Indians seamer also shared the new ball with Bhuvneshwar Kumar in this series.

“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,” Hardik Pandya said after India’s 36-run victory on Saturday.

To break the jinx of batting first and winning, feels really great: Hardik Pandya

The 27-year-old says that with the T20 World Cup in sight, the team wanted to experiment with a few things, by throwing themselves in uncomfortable situations – one of which was to win while not batting first.

India won the second T20I while chasing and the last couple of games while defending totals, in presence of dew, which will give the management immense confidence going further.

“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,” Hardik Pandya asserted.

Also Read: Bhuvneshwar Kumar Accepted The Responsibility Pretty Well, Bowled The Crucial Overs – Rohit Sharma