Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar has backed the Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya to do well after his comeback to the Indian team. The Gujarat player is a part of India’s current squad for the T20I series against South Africa. He also talked about a different role for the 28-year-old all-rounder. Gavaskar also stated the changes which are required to do to manage Pandya in the squad.
Speaking of the first T20I against the visitors, India had to face a seven-wicket defeat. The hosts managed to post a total of 211 runs in the 20 overs with the help of a blistering knock from Ishan Kishan. The 24-year-old young lad scored 76 runs off just 48 deliveries.
Coming back to Pandya, he made his comeback to international cricket. He got a call-up to the national side on the grounds of his heroics in the Indian T20 League 2022. Although he had to go through the critical eyes of the fans and experts for denying a single to Dinesh Karthik during the last over of the Indian inning, he was fairly decent.
I will actually want to see him with the new ball – Gavaskar
“I think he is going to be the game-changer for India, more often than not, in all the matches that are due to come, not just the World Cup but every single match that India plays, whether he bats at No. 5, whether he comes into a bowl at first change or second change. Sometimes I will actually want to see him with the new ball,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying in a show on Star Sports.
The team management used Pandya to bat at number five in the line-up. This combination provided a cushion to the management for going ahead with two spinners in the playing eleven for the first match of the series.
To note, Pandya led the new entrants Gujarat to win the 2022 edition. He delivered some stellar performances with the bat having four half-centuries to his name. Pandya also claimed three crucial wickets in the final encounter of the tournament against Rajasthan.
