ICC T20 World Cup 2021: India Made A Mistake By Not Sending Hardik Pandya Ahead Of Ravindra Jadeja And Rishabh Pant: Sanjay Manjrekar

Cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar said that India should have promoted all-rounder Hardik Pandya in their batting order against Pakistan.

After being asked to bat first, India were at the backfoot after losing their openers to Shaheen Afridi.

India were left 36/3 after six overs, wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant and skipper Kohli resurrected the sinking ship with a 53-run stand between them before Pant perished against Shadab Khan’s googly.

Elevating Hardik Pandya would have served two purposes: Sanjay Manjrekar

Hardik Pandya came in to bat at No.7 and made 11 from eight deliveries, hitting a couple of boundaries.

Manjrekar feels that India could have sent Hardik ahead of Pant and Ravindra Jadeja, which would have proven his capability as a batsman.

“India made a mistake by not sending Hardik ahead of both Jadeja and Pant. I know India wanted to keep the left-hand/right-hand combination going, one important reason why Imad Wasim, the left-arm spinner, bowled just two overs,” Manjrekar wrote in his column for Hindustan Times.

“But elevating Hardik would have served two purposes. First, you would have given Hardik, the pure batter, the platform any out-of-form batter wants–a bit of time to settle. Also, you would have then had a better understanding of Hardik’s current state of mind and batting ability to decide his immediate future in this tournament,” he further added.

Hardik Pandya must be given the status of a pure batter: Sanjay Manjrekar

It is very clear that Hardik won’t be bowling in the T20 World as India used just five bowlers, who went wicketless, against Pakistan.

Hardik’s concerns started when he didn’t bowl a single over in IPL 2021, and the Indian board had to replace Shardul Thakur with Axar Patel to add a pacer in the main squad.

Manjrekar said that Hardik should be used as a pure batter in the team, which also means that he should be batting up the order.

 “If Hardik is not going to bowl, he must be given the status of a pure batter, and your expectation from him must be like you have from a pure batter,” Manjrekar wrote.

India will play their next match against New Zealand on October 26 in Dubai.

Also Read: T20 World Cup 2021: Interesting Problem India Have Is The Sixth Bowler, Hardik Pandya Is Not Bowling – Brad Haddin