24-years old Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya is known as one of the big talents in the world cricket. From the very beginning of his international career, Hardik impresses with his all-round performances. However, currently in last few months, Hardik is running under-perform and highly inconsistent with his performances, specially in batting. Talking about this, India’s famous TV commentator Harsha Bhogle pointed out Hardik’s major issues.
In a recent video coverage for Cricbuzz, Harsha Bhogle mentioned Hardik Pandya as a rarest Indian cricketer. Harsha gave the reason about his view as he said that the seam bowling all-rounder is rare in the Indian cricket.
Also read: Amitabh Bachchan took a dig at Harsha Bhogle
Harsha also mentioned the name of Irfan Pathan who has a decent run as an all-rounder in the middle of his career but not lasts long.
As a genuine seam all-rounder playing for India, Harsha mentioned Hardik Pandya apart from Kapil Dev. Harsha mentioned this kind of genuine seam all-rounder as a core of the balance of every successful limited overs team.
Talking about Hardik Pandya’s recent decreasing form, Harsha brought some important stats. Harsha made a comparison between Hardik Pandya’s ODI performances till the home series against Australia in 2017 (till 1st October 2017) and after that Australia series. Here are the detail stats which Harsha showed during that video coverage.
Hardik Pandya’s ODI Career
| Stats | Till Australia Series | After Australia Series |
| Matches | 26 | 11 |
| Runs Scored | 530 | 98 |
| Batting Average | 40.77 | 12.25 |
| Strike Rate | 120.73 | 95.15 |
| Wickets Taken | 29 | 9 |
| Bowling Average | 34.45 | 46.67 |
| Economy Rate | 5.57 | 5.38 |
So, it is clearly showing that how Hardik Pandya is now running in the poor form. Harsha also described that why Hardik is now facing trouble in the international cricket. Talking about that, Harsha said that as the player’s career goes on, the opponents begin to analyse the player and discover the weaknesses. Harsha thinks that Hardik is now facing the similar stage and his success depends on how well he is able to counter what his oppositions are doing to him.
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Harsha also said that Hardik is still a good player but he is now failing to clear the boundary. Harsha also said that Hardik is playing much better against spin while pacers are producing much trouble for him. Harsha brought another stats where he showed us Hardik’s performances against the pacers and the spinners.
Hardik Pandya vs Pace/Spin
| Stats | vs Pace | vs Spin |
| Average | 27.00 | 41.67 |
| Strike Rate | 97.42 | 162.34 |
| Balls Per Boundary | 9.46 | 4.97 |
Harsha suggested that Hardik needs to develop his shots and find the antidotes of his weaknesses as soon as possible.
Harsha believes that Hardik Pandya is still bowling in good rhythm but needs to develop his batting skills.
Recently, former Indian skipper Krishnamachari Srikkanth expressed his disappointment with Hardik Pandya’s recent performance.
On the other hand, former Indian attacking opener Virender Sehwag had mentioned Hardik Pandya as a long-term prospect. The former Indian opener had said, “I think Hardik Pandya is a long-term prospect for India in any formats and not only overseas. He is immensely talented with the bat especially but he needs to be consistent as an all-rounder as well. If it doesn’t happen, it would be a huge disappointment but it will take time for him to grow as a cricketer. His career has just started and it will take a couple of years more for him to become an exceptional player like Kapil Dev.”
