IND vs BAN: Hardik Pandya punched to bowl his full quota of overs in T20 World Cup; reminded of IPL commitment

Former India seamer RP Singh believes that All-rounder and Vice-captain Hardik Pandya should be able to bowl all 4 overs with ease at the T20 World Cup 2024. 

Hardik Pandya is coming at the back of a terrible 2024 Indian Premier League season wherein he stepped out as a Mumbai Indians player after leaving Gujarat. It was Hardik's first season with MI since the 2021 season and it was also the first that the senior Indian cricketer played as a full-time Mumbai captain. 

However, Hardik Pandya's first year of captaining the 5-time champions did not go so well as the Mumbai Indians finished at the bottom of the points table. Hardik was expected to lead the team towards the playoffs just like he had guided the Gujarat Titans in 2022 and 2023. But after a tumultuous IPL season, Pandya was picked in India's T20 WC squad as the deputy to skipper Rohit Sharma. 

Hardik Pandya is set to return in National colors for the first time since October 2023

It is also worth noting that Hardik Pandya is returning to the National side for the first time since October 2023. The All-rounder had rolled his feet over the ball during a league stage match at the 50-Over World Cup last year against Bangladesh. That injury first saw him get ruled out of the 2023 CWC as well as the subsequent series against Australia (home), South Africa (away), and Afghanistan.  

Following his recovery, Hardik Pandya went straight to feature for the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024. And later tonight, he will be in action for the Men in Blue when they take on Bangladesh in their only warm-up game for the ICC T20 World Cup in USA & West Indies. There will be a lot of pressure on his shoulders being the vice-captain of the team. 

But also as a player, Pandya will have the onus to deliver not just with the bat but with the ball as well. He wasn't able to do anything special with his all-round skills at the IPL 2024, scoring 216 runs and having just 11 wickets to his name. Back in MI, he was put under immense pressure due to the trolling and abuse in the stadiums but hopefully, it won't be the case when he plays for India. 

What did RP singh say about Pandya's bowling? 

While speaking to Jio Cinema recently, 2007's inaugural T20 World Cup winner RP Singh made a bold prediction about Hardik Pandya's bowling. Since the All-rounder is so injury-prone, there is always an injury threat that lingers around whenever he puts too much on his body. 

The injury scare is still there but RP Singh believes that Hardik Pandya will be able to bowl all 4 overs without any such problems. RP stated that Hardik's bowling is going to be very important for India and that he should be able to bowl his quota of 4 overs.

"Hardik bowled in the IPL and bowled four overs so there's no injury scare. Hardik's bowling will be important and he will have to bowl all his quota of 4 overs." - RP Singh said via Jio Cinema.