Hardik Pandya ‘s sterling all-round efforts kept Mumbai Indians afloat in the tournament. (Source: BCCI)
India’s Big Show
“I am someone who thinks differently…….I don’t think that much….In a few games, I thought about this thing….” The “thing” that Hardik Pandya had been asked about was how bowlers had started targeting him with different lengths and strategies in this IPL.
It was an issue that even Mumbai coach Mahela Jayawardene had alluded to earlier in the tournament. But here was Pandya providing a rather well-rounded summation through his response of how his mind functions on the cricket field. In addition, the all-rounder also spoke about how he has “stopped practising and it’s about one hit” while insisting that he was “positive in his mind” and if the bowlers “bowl well, no one can do anything”.
You could perhaps be snarky and pull Pandya up for showboating on a day he’d come good with both bat and ball. It wouldn’t be the first time after all. His response on Sunday though maybe also summed up Pandya’s approach to cricket. It’s not to say that there isn’t any thinking that goes into it. But more often than not, Pandya prefer to back his instinct and his incessantly “positive mind-set” to get him through. It of course doesn’t work always.
But when it does, you can’t deny that the 24-year-old has the ability to turn a match around either with bat or ball. Like he did against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede to keep the defending champions alive in IPL 2018. While it was his bowling—figures of 2/19 that took him to the top of the wicket-takers’ tally—that played a more significant role in Mumbai’s win, his 20-ball 35 came at the exact time when his team had lost momentum and propelled them over the 180-run mark.
It’s on days when he doesn’t come off though that his inherently in-your-face swag can come off as a little off-putting and add fuel to his detractors’ scepticism over whether he indeed is the real big deal of Indian cricket and not just a big show. And for the first half of the season, Pandya’s batting had been a let-down.
It mirrored Mumbai’s campaign wherein, the opposition more often than not just seemed to have his number. For nearly two years, Pandya’s been the most consistent power-hitter in white-ball cricket in India. This season though, the fast bowlers in particular have started hitting different lengths—a couple of yards shorter than good length but not short enough so that he can rock back and unleash his hook shot—and managed to bog him down.
Mumbai’s last home encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad was a perfect example, as he made 3 in 19 balls with his team needing in excess of 10-an-over. It was a knock where you could see Pandya was thinking too much, at times putting himself too far ahead of the game. And maybe there is some truth in him saying that he’s stopped thinking ever since. He has the runs to back him up since that Hyderabad match.
KKR failed to follow the Sunrisers’ blueprint and ended up dishing out enough deliveries in the Pandya zone for him to clear his arms and connect well enough to collect 4 boundaries and a six. Two that came in debutant Prasidh Krishna’s over where he backed away and slammed a widish delivery over the covers before going down on his haunches and lapping a leg-side bound delivery over fine-leg for four. It was Pandya being Pandya.
It’s a different story with his bowling though. While earlier he was more or less a hit-the-wicket medium-pacer, the younger Pandya has not only developed oodles of pace but also become a lot savvier in terms of outthinking batsmen. It’s one of the reasons he’s been Mumbai’s go-to bowler in IPL XI, and he showed his growing maturity by never letting the well-set Robin Uthappa and Nitish Rana get on top of him. He also removed Rana at a crucial time to derail KKR’s run-chase.
Krunal slips under the radar
The spotlight can easily miss Krunal Pandya when his brother is having a good day in the IPL though. And the older Pandya played as much of an integral role in turning Mumbai’s fortunes around as Hardik. But like he generally tends to, he was more understated with his performance and as a result unsung with his impact. Unlike his brother though, he seems to put a lot of thought and nous into every aspect of his cricket.
He struck a crucial four and six in the company of his brother to lay the base for Mumbai in the last 4 overs. He then hung on to two crucial and seemingly difficult catches, including a skier of Andre Russell, to keep Kolkata behind the run-rate. And then he put his hand up to bowl the all-important 20th over.
The left-arm spinner did have 23 to defend but kept his nerve to first remove Sunil Narine before keeping Dinesh Karthik in check by giving the ball more air and asking the KKR captain to make the play, which he eventually failed to.