Would Have Been Nice To Have Hardik Pandya Around As He Is A Quality Player - Shane Bond

Mumbai Indians (MI) bowling coach Shane Bond said that he misses all-rounder, Hardik Pandya, and would have loved to have the all-rounder in their squad for the IPL 2022 season.

Hardik was let go by MI ahead of the auction and he was picked up by Gujarat Titans (GT) in the draft phase. The Baroda player was made the captain of the team and he led them to a resounding victory with 12 wins in 16 matches.

“Hardik is a pretty cool captain. He came in the IPL to Mumbai in my first season so we spent a lot of time together. It was probably a foreign role for him to step up as a leader for a different franchise but he did a great job.”

“From my perspective, I miss him. It would have been nice to have in around in our team because he is a quality player. India need him too for the World Cup because he showed what a quality player he is and also what a good leader he is,” Bond said in a chat with Sportskeeda.

“He will just get better as he plays” – Shane Bond on Umran Malik

Bond asserted that the young speed gun, Umran Malik, will develop with time and can only get better from hereon. Umran consistently clocked over 150kmph and even bowled the second fastest delivery of the season (157 kmph).

“I would have him (Umran) in my (World Cup) squad. He bowled well against us. The thing about pace is that when you get wickets it is challenging for new players to score against it. He still needs to work on his control…”

“If you have a guy who delivers 3-4 match-winning performances in a season, he will just get better as he plays. He needs to move the ball to play longer formats because it is difficult to sustain that pace for 50 overs or for the course of the Test,” he added.

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