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“I am shameless as a bowler, you can try and hit me, that keeps me in the game” Hardik Pandya reveals his mindset with the ball

Hardik Pandya grabbed a 4-wicket haul and scored 71 runs for India in the third ODI against England

The Indian allrounder Hardik Pandya, who played a vital role in India’s first ODI series win in England after 8 years, was in a jolly mood in the post-match presentation and revealed his bowling gameplan in a very interesting way.

During the whole England tour, Hardik Pandya seemed to have a personal battle with the England middle-order batsman Liam Livingstone. Livingstone, whenever he walked in to bat, looked to attack Hardik and Hardik never took a backward step.

Hardik always banged the ball in and bowled short-of-length deliveries to Livingstone and although Livingstone hit a couple of sixes against Hardik, Hardik managed to dismiss Livingstone thrice on the tour.

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Talking about his battle with Livingstone, particularly in the last and final ODI at Old Trafford, Hardik said that the leg side boundary was bigger for the right-hander from the end he was bowling and he knew if Livingstone had to hit sixes against him, he had to hit the ball pretty clean to get it out of the ground.

Livingstone was always going to take the short balls on Hardik Pandya

Hardik also said that he knew Livingstone was always going to take the short balls on because he likes playing that shot. So, he decided he would continue to bowl short to him and even if the plan didn’t work and he was going to get hit for four sixes, he wouldn’t mind it.

The 29-year-old jokingly said that he is shameless as a bowler and doesn’t mind it one bit when he is hit in the air for big shots, because he knows if the batsman is attempting big shots in the air and towards the longer boundary, that keeps him in the game as a bowler.

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Hardik Pandya was declared the man of the series for his consistency with both bat and ball in the 3 ODIs against England.

Abhishek

I write a bit on cricket and I am more interested in technical and tactical side of the game, rather than bravado.

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