Hardik Pandya said he was unwilling to rush his return to bowling.
Hardik Pandya said he was unwilling to rush his return to bowling and risk exhausting himself before major multi-team tournaments like T20 WC to be played in successive years. The 27-year-old has not bowled since returning to competition after surgery to treat an acute lower back injury.
The absence of Hardik, the bowler, was exposed at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the opening ODI against Australia with the hosts amassed a gigantic 374 and then buried India under those runs. Pandya revealed that he is still shy about getting ready to go bowling and that he will gradually develop to do so.
“It’s a process,” Pandya said when asked where he was regarding his return to bowling. “I’m looking at a long-term goal where I want to be at 100% bowling capacity for the biggest games. The World Cups are coming. More crucial series are coming.
“I’m thinking like a long-term plan, not a short-term one where I burn out and maybe have something else [injury] that is not there. So it’s going to be a process that I’m following. I can’t tell you exactly when I’m going bowling, but the process continues. In the networks, I am playing bowling. It’s just that I’m not ready to play, but I’m still bowling. It’s about confidence and the skill has to be at the international level. “
The importance of a sixth bowler is especially highlighted when any of the five front-row players has a day off. In India’s case, the opening game saw three of their bowlers, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini and Jasprit Bumrah, concede more than 245 runs in the 30 overs between them with a combined economy of 8.16. With Pandya not bowling and none of the top-five hitters able to provide a cushion of more or two, India had little to offer when it came to hiding.
“That has always been the question, right?” Pandya said about the need for another SUV. “We have to find and maybe do … I’ve always believed that … even when I hit the track, I wasn’t always the off-roader I wanted to be. But over time I braced myself and became that bowling option.” I worked at my bowling alley.
“Yeah, it’s always going to be difficult when you go with five bowlers. When someone is having a day off, you have no one to meet. [the quota]. More than injury, the role of the sixth bowler is when one of the five bowlers is having a bad day, they come and fill those envelopes so that the other player has more protection. I think it’s going to be … maybe we have to do, maybe we have to find someone who has already played against India, prepare him and find a way to make him play.
“Maybe we should only look at the Pandya family. There is one at home,” Hardik added cheekily in reference to brother Krunal Pandya.
Virat Kohli also acknowledged the problem of the missing sixth pitcher, but said that given the circumstances and the team chosen, the team would simply have to fix the problem. More pressing for India has been their lack of incisiveness up front with the new ball. India has not chosen a PowerPlay wicket in each of its last four ODIs, coincidentally leading to its first four-game losing streak in the format since 2016.
“Unfortunately, Hardik is not ready to go bowling yet, so we have to accept it and fix it,” Kohli said. “That is an area that we have analyzed, which is a very important part of the balance of any team. [Marcus] Stoinis and Glenn [Maxwell] do it for australia.
“The key to keeping hitters at bay is picking up grounds. That’s something we couldn’t do. Plus, the lapses on the field were also a reason why we couldn’t capitalize on any kind of momentum, the pressure that created on the pitch. first part of the tickets.
“Everybody has to show the intention of the full 50 overs. We probably played 50 overs after a long time. That could have an effect, but having said that we’ve played so much ODI cricket it’s not something we don’t know how to do. I think the language. body on the field was not good after around 25 overs. It was a disappointing part. If you don’t take a chance against a high quality opponent, they will hurt you and that’s what happened today. “
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