‘Hardik understands his game better since his comeback,’ says Rohit Sharma
‘Hardik understands his game better since his comeback,’ says Rohit Sharma: Rohit Sharma, the captain of India, thinks that Hardik Pandya has a better understanding of his game and is more sure of what he wants to do with both the bat and the ball now that he’s back.
Hardik did a lot of different things well to help India beat Pakistan by five wickets in their Asia Cup opener on Sunday. First, with the ball, he got three wickets, including the dangerous Mohammad Rizwan. Then, in 17 balls, he scored 33 runs without getting out, which showed how valuable he was under a lot of pressure.
Rohit’s views on Hardik
Rohit sees Hardik as an adult who now knows what to do in different situations.
“Since the time he (Hardik) has made his comeback, he’s been brilliant. When he was not part of the team, he figured what he needs to do to his body and his fitness regime, and now he is clocking 140+ easily,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“His batting quality we all know and it’s been brilliant since his comeback. He is a lot calmer now and more confident about what he wants to do, whether it’s with the bat or with the ball,” he added.
On Sunday, it was clear that Hardik could bowl quickly.
“He can bowl really quickly, we saw that today with those short balls. It was always about just understanding his game and he’s doing that well now. In a high-pressure with 10 runs per over needed, you can panic but he never showed any of that.”
Even though India kept Pakistan below-par 147, it wasn’t easy for them to win because the top order failed.
“Halfway through the chase, we still knew that we can win irrespective of the situation. We had the belief and when you have that belief, these things can happen,” Rohit said.
Babar’s bowlers – Worth the praise!
Pakistan’s captain, Babar Azam, thought that his bowlers did an excellent job of making the chase hard.
“The way we started (with the ball), was great. We were about 10-15 runs short. Bowlers did really well to make a match of this. Our tail did step up a bit to add those handy runs,” Babar said.
On left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz bowling the final over, Babar said: “Thought was to take the game deep. Idea was to create pressure but Hardik finished well.”
On his first T20I, pacer Naseem Shah took two wickets, and the captain was full of praise for the young player.
“He (Naseem) is a very young bowler but bowled so well, and showed so much aggression.”