Hardik Pandya is a limited-edition cricketer, the type that they don’t make too often. He can smash the ball, he can swing the ball, he can really have a ball on the field. And he will do all that while still hanging a ‘the-world-is-a-cool-place’ smile on his face almost always, in wins and more so in losses.
After India lost the deciding fifth T20I against the West Indies at Lauderhill in Florida on Sunday, captain Hardik was unmissable as he went about shaking hands with the opponent players and the umpires. “... sometimes losing is good. You get to learn a lot,” he would say a few minutes later, at the post-match presentation ceremony.
He was right about that. But what he said after that didn’t sound as right. Asked about his questionable bowling changes in the match, Hardik said: “It is what I feel at that moment. I don’t plan much about it. If I see the situation and if I believe which is a better option, I generally prefer that. It’s not rocket science, it’s just whatever my gut says at that time.”
Shubman Gill (right) walks back as the West Indies players celebrate the opener’s dismissal for 9 in the deciding T20I in Lauderhill, Florida, on Sunday. AP/PTI
Yes, it’s not rocket science, but captaincy is not mumbo jumbo either. The gut feeling can be a part of cricket captaincy, it cannot be the heart of it. His words actually explain his actions, which seemed quite inexplicable.
The West Indies were cruising at 117/1 in the 13th over of their chase of the 166-run target when rain intervened. Once play resumed, Yuzvendra Chahal bowled out his unfinished over. Then a gut-driven Hardik brought on Tilak Varma to bowl the 14th over. The move worked as part-timer Varma dismissed a set Nicholas Pooran.
But what happened thereafter was quite puzzling. Axar Patel bowled the 15th over — his first in the game — gave away 8 runs and the Windies still needed 34 from 30 balls. Chahal leaked 16 runs in the next over, but still 18 were required off 24 balls. Match on, one would think, given the fragile nature of Caribbean batting at present. But Hardik, instead of going to a regular bowler, entrusted Varma to bowl the 17th over. Result? Varma conceded 12. With the game almost gone, he then gave Yashasvi Jaiswal the ball, who was thrashed for a six as the Windies scored the winning runs.
Mind you, India played with six regular bowlers. But left-arm spinner Axar and pacer Mukesh Kumar bowled only an over each, while Chahal, despite proving costly, got to finish his quota with an economy of 12.75.
Hardik’s moves looked weird to even trained eyes.
“India needs to improve their skillset. There is a hunger & intensity deficiency, & often, the captain looked clueless,” former pacer Venkatesh Prasad tweeted.
Former Test opener Aakash Chopra was more scathing in his assessment. “The way Axar Patel has been used, we really don’t know. It almost seems like we played with 10 players... You have made Mukesh a totally old-ball bowler. Arshdeep Singh was bowled two overs in which he picked up a wicket but he didn’t get overs after that. I have got no idea whatsoever about the bowling changes and I won’t even try to explain,” Chopra said on his Youtube channel.
Hardik is India’s big captaincy hope, at least in white-ball cricket. His captaincy record in T20Is so far has been modest, with a win percentage of 62.50. Rohit Sharma has 76.47, while Virat Kohli won 64 per cent of the T20Is he captained. Needless to say, Hardik has a long way to go and to make that journey, he would need better game plans besides his gut feeling.
Hardik’s admiration for Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the original ‘Captain Cool’, is not a secret. Dhoni too took many instinctive decisions, but he used them only to surprise opponents. Hardik’s moves often surprise his own teammates it seems.
Confidence is like the eraser that shrinks with every mistake. Does Hardik know that? Dhoni did.
