Legendary Australian cricketer, Matthew Hayden has come in support of Bhuvneshwar Kumar as he opines that pacer should continue bowling in the death overs. There has been a lot of discussion regarding the death-over bowling of Bhuvneshwar as he conceded 16 runs in the penultimate over against Australia in the first T20I at Mohali. When Australia needed 18 off 12 deliveries, Matthew Wade smashed three back-to-back boundaries to bring the equation down to two runs off the final over.

Talking about Bhuvneshwar Kumar, during a show on Star Sports, Matthew Hayden said, “I disagree with that. I think he can and has been a very good finisher. I think that is his role. I mean, obviously, his role is to take wickets up front but if your skipper wants an over or two from you at the end, then he can do that.”

This is the third consecutive time for Bhuvneshwar Kumar to concede runs in the 19th over, having conceded 14 runs against Sri Lanka and 19 runs against Pakistan in the recently concluded Asia Cup.

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Matthew Hayden also showered praises on Hardik Pandya, saying the India all-rounder has evolved a lot as a cricketer and his ability to stay calm and handle pressure is working wonders. Hayden’s comments came after Hardik played a brilliant knock of 30-ball 71 not out in Mohali. Hayden said Hardik is one of the most adaptable cricketers going around.

Explaining the same, Matthew Hayden said, “He has got the such great belief, talent is one thing, but trusting the fact you can be a match-winner and deliver on the day. We saw in the IPL that he batted at No. 4. We all thought ‘uh, how is he going to go about it?’ He is such an adaptable cricketer. He has grown a lot as a cricketer. His ability to be able to read the situation, know the pressure is there and then handle it and deliver, it’s taking him to new levels.”

Hardik has been in sensational form with both bat and ball ever since he made a comeback to competitive cricket. After hitting 487 runs in 15 games in Gujarat Titans’ victorious IPL 2022 campaign, Pandya has amassed 402 runs in 17 matches at an average of over 35 and a staggering strike rate of 150-plus.

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Shedding light on Hardik’s improved ability with the bat, former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar said the all-rounder has worked on using both sides of the pitch. He explained, “There came a time in his batting wherein he was only targeting on-side. He was literally covering the stumps and kept targeting the on-side. What he is doing now is, yes he is standing on the off-stump, but he is clearing his front foot and giving himself room to access both sides.”