The former Australian allrounder Shane Watson reckons that India’s title hopes in the ongoing T20 World Cup rely heavily on Hardik Pandya because if he hits his straps early in the tournament, he can single-handedly make a tournament-winning difference for India.
Shane Watson was recently talking to Times of India in an exclusive interview where he said that India has got a lot of high-class players including the captain Rohit Sharma himself who can play pace and bounce well, but what Hardik does is he strengthens India in so many different departments.
Firstly he is a seam-bowling allrounder who doesn’t just bowl seam up, but can crank some good pace and can cross 140 kph mark as well. And then with the bat, he doesn’t just have the skill to clear the fence, but he can bat in different phases of the innings and is one of the best finishers going around.
According to Shane Watson, if Hardik is able to find form early in the tournament, he can change games on his own and can possibly be a big influence in the tournament, because of the power that he has got with the bat and the uncanny ability that he has got with the ball.
Hardik Pandya had his knee strapped in India’s training session today
A little bit of worry for the Indian fans at the moment is that Hardik was seen with his knee strapped in the training session of India earlier today and while that’s not always a sign of a big injury because the players sometimes strap a sore knee as well, what was worrisome was that some of the journalists from the ground reported that Hardik was limping slightly.
Hardik Pandya has his right knee strapped. Could be a knee cap, as well. But he is limping a bit. @Sportskeeda #INDvPAK #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/72KKE9xSyO
Advertisement— Srinjoy Sanyal (@srinjoysanyal07) October 22, 2022
There has, however, been no official word from the Indian camp yet and the Indian fans would hope that Hardik is fit to play in tomorrow’s game against Pakistan.
