Hardik Pandya stood out again.
Hardik Pandya stepping up for India under pressure. Is that even a surprise anymore? Time and again, he has done it for the Men in Blue, in the most adverse situations and on the grandest stage possible. Last night was no different.
When Hardik walked in to bat at No.6 at the Wankhede Stadium, India were 190/4 in 15.4 overs, and his role was to ensure the momentum didn’t drop. He did that precisely. Unsurprisingly.
There was a certain Hardik moment when he decided not to take a single on the third delivery of the final over. Axar Patel, an equally brilliant spin hitter, was denied the strike against an off-spinner. He risked his aura, as he does at least a couple of times every game, but that’s how confident he is in his abilities.
A six on the following delivery again elevated that aura and proved his decision correct. Again, unsurprising. Hardik had earlier sold Shivam Dube down the river with a run-out, setting off halfway before sending his partner back.
Dube couldn’t make it and was dismissed; the stare he gave on the way back might have been enough to make most batters take the single in the final over. But that’s Hardik; he lives and thrives in the moment, even if his past decisions have been questionable. A 27-run cameo at a strike rate of 225, with three boundaries and two maximums, was fitting for all those questionable decisions.
Before that, how many players in world cricket can retain their place in the playing XI either as a batter or a bowler? Only Hardik Pandya can be in the discussion in all fairness. He is that good.
So, again, it was unsurprising that he was only one of the two bowlers, apart from a certain Jasprit Bumrah, with an economy rate in single digits. In a match with a collective run rate of 12.47 and as many as 10 bowlers conceding more than 10 runs per over, Hardik went for just 9.50. He also dismissed Phil Salt and Sam Curran, the former with the new ball and the latter with the old ball.
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He bowled two overs in the powerplay, one just outside it, and the final in the penultimate over. There were obvious bowling smarts early on: cramping Harry Brook with inswingers when he tried to come down and employing channel deliveries against Jos Buttler, who has issues with such lines. In between, he didn’t shy from pitching slightly fuller to extract movement and induce false shots.
But that penultimate over confirmed what makes everyone marvel over his aura. Jacob Bethell was in his element, and with Sam Curran on the other end, 39 runs were very much gettable in those two overs. Hardik had double pressure here: he not only needed to dismiss one of two batters but also leave as much as possible for the final over, which Shivam Dube bowled.
He did both, unsurprisingly. The ace all-rounder conceded only nine runs, despite starting the set with a maximum, and also removed Curran to give Dube a 30-run cushion. After giving a six off a slower delivery at the start, he gauged immediately that off-pace balls won’t work; they didn’t work for anyone apart from that man… Bumrah.
Hardik went for a yorker-heavy strategy and nailed two out of five. The remaining three were low full-tosses that are never easy to hit at that pace. He was, unsurprisingly, prudent enough to keep his lines outside off to make hitting as difficult as possible.
Only nine runs from the over, and a new batter at the crease, gave Dube more than enough to defend. Bumrah was the pick of the bowler. Hardik, though, did what he does best: thrive under pressure.
We will get to that run-out later. But firstly, rewind to the fourth delivery of the 17th over. Arshdeep Singh bowled a slower one, and Curran had hit it well enough towards long-on to look for a second; the pair had run hard every time on the first run to put fielders under pressure and force mistakes.
But pressure, you see, doesn’t quite get to Hardik. He sprinted to his left, picked it neatly, and fired a rapid throw to restrict them to a single. Even with no dew, the ball was hit fairly hard and away from his reach; he had to do everything in one motion, and so he did, unsurprisingly.
Now onto that run-out in the final over. When Bethell decided to go for the second run, Hardik Pandya, stationed at long-off, had two choices: either throw to the bowler’s end, which was nearest to him, or go for the run-out with a big throw towards the other end, which was rather tricky. He chose the tougher part… unsurprisingly.
He collected it cleanly and fired a flat throw on a bounce to Sanju Samson, who collected calmly and did the remaining job. Few would have thought about throwing towards the longer part, and even fewer would have executed it. Hardik did both instinctively, with immense game awareness.
If his over, which he had nailed just moments earlier, already tightened India’s grip, this piece of fielding brilliance slammed the doors on England’s hopes. Jofra Archer hit three maximums to drag his team closer to the target, but it was too late by then; all thanks to Hardik Pandya. But are we even surprised anymore, or should we be?
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