Past cricketers Sanjay Manjrekar and Sanjay Bangar have defended the selection of Hardik Pandya for the T20 World Cup arguing that he has performed exceptionally well in previous international tournaments.
Pandya’s role as an all-rounder and captain became a subject of concern after his lackluster IPL season. However, Manjrekar remains convinced that the selectors made the right decision by picking him for the T20 World Cup. While speaking on Star Sports, he gave an even more impressive record of Pandya’s performance in the world cup.
“I have been saying this again and again, even before this match [warm-up match against Bangladesh], if you look at his Hardik Pandya’s world cup performances, he played very well as an all-rounder in 2019 world cup,” said Manjrekar. “He had a main performance in India-Pakistan match on a great stage, see how he batted with bat in hand when India lost the semi-final at Adelaide; he scored 60 runs with strike rate of 190.”
According to Manjrekar, it is not simply about poor IPL form but rather external pressures and environmental factors that affected him during this time.
“Temperamentally what happened in IPL was just small issue because there was pressure from outside. The environment might not have been good enough. I am not at all surprised that he will feel slightly relaxed and relieved after donning India’s and not Mumbai Indians’ blues. He has ability and I am saying it again now – big-match player,” he added.
Sanjay Bangar, another former Indian batter, echoed similar sentiments to those expressed by Manjrekar by suggesting that Hardik’s recent IPL form should be ignored since his past performances for india speak volumes.
“You should definitely see what he has done for india. His record in World Cup cricket is exceptional. He has performed extremely well in all three formats, whether he is playing Test cricket for India, 50-over or 20-over format,” said Bangar.
He also observed that injuries have restricted Pandya’s game time but the few times he has played, his contribution has proved vital to the team.
“At one point of time yes there was a phase in the middle where he got injure and because of that couldn’t play much but whenever he comes, Indian team balance becomes much better,” he said.
Both Manjrekar and Bangar are confident that Pandya will come good at this level once more and show why he is so important to the Indian side.
