T20 World Cup 2022 – Ind vs Eng – Hardik Pandya

Chetan’s response didn’t speak of a roadmap for Pandya, but instead asked the reporter to call Pandya to check for himself why he was not available for domestic cricket. It might suggest Pandya was not in touch with the selectors either. However, Chetan did go on to ask the reporter to not undermine what Pandya had done for India.

The general import – not restricted to just the reporter – was clear: Pandya is a brat, he cares only for the IPL, and he is above general conventions of selection. He had played the last T20 World Cup purely as a batter, but the selector asked the reporter to not presume that runs will be enough to get Pandya back into the team.

But Pandya comes closest to that gold standard for an allrounder: he can play as a batter only, or as a bowler only.

In the IPL, Pandya was contesting nearly 37 balls per match. In this World Cup, he has been involved in 30.8 balls per match.

Later in the tournament, Pakistan had to breach this gap with the inclusion of Mohammad Wasim, who is a steady bowler, but whose batting average and strike rate are 18.44 and 122.05 respectively across all T20s. In T20Is, he goes at under a run a ball.

Structurally, Pandya’s bowling fitness is perhaps the biggest difference between India at the last World Cup and India now. In these conditions, the spinners’ role has been diminished, which calls for an allrounder who is more than a placeholder.

If the selectors do make an allowance for Pandya, it is plain to see why. He does what no other T20 cricketer does. On top of that, he does something extremely unnerving for an opponent: he is not afraid of failure. Possibly, this is why he has become the T20 cricketer that he has.

A player with nothing to lose is an opponent’s nightmare. It means the player can perform to the best of their ability without any self-doubt. Pandya has had self-doubts, but they came through injuries and his inability to trust his body fully on comeback. Two days before India’s semi-final in this T20 World Cup against England in Adelaide, Pandya was one of the three players to turn up for optional training.

All the bowling training didn’t involve a ball. He just simulated his run-up, the jump to the side, and the completion of the follow-through. This is a man at peace with his body, not one who has been let down at crucial times in the past.

On this trip there is a certain calmness to Pandya. The way he doesn’t get flustered by the match situation, the way he prepares, and the way he talks to those outside the team bubble: his indifference for results will face a sterner test in the finals week of the World Cup amid all the noise about knockout matches. This is when all the preparation, all the change in philosophy, all the tactics come down to two matches.

If you lose, nobody cares for what all you did in the whole year. That is why it is a good time to appreciate the balance Pandya provides India, something hardly any other T20 cricketer does.