Former India cricketer, Mohammad Kaif has been highly impressed with Hardik Pandya’s performance in the T20I series against New Zealand.
The Indian skipper bowled the first over of all three matches in the recently-concluded series and looked in fine touch.
In the third and final T20I at Ahmedabad, Hardik returned with figures of 4/16 which are his best figures as of now.
Pandya has also scalped five wickets with an economy rate of 6.72 in the 11 overs he bowled for India.
From 1-0, India did a great rebounce to come back strongly and win the series 2-1.
A couple of Pandya’s wickets came with the new ball.
During a show, Kaif discussed how much Pandya’s ball swung in the T20I series. He says,
He gets the ball to swing. Among all the bowlers we saw in this series, Hardik Pandya’s ball swung the most. Arshdeep Singh was there, we also saw (Lockie) Ferguson, the other bowlers also played but no one got the ball to swing.
Adding further, Kaif also discussed how Pandya has the ability to exploit the batters’ weaknesses.
The speciality about Hardik Pandya is that he has a very good release point. He bowls both outswing and inswing as a bowler, he knows the batter’s weakness.
Kaif also elaborated on how Pandya got the dismissals of Glenn Phillips and Finn Allen saying,
To get Finn (Allen) and (Glenn) Phillips out in the slips in a T20I, it shows he has the X-factor. He gets extra bounce as well, the ball lands on the seam, and that is why he bowls with the new ball. He knows that he is the captain and has the passion that he can pick up wickets with the new ball.
Kaif praises Pandya’s captaincy; says there was no messing around
Furthermore, Kaif was also appreciative of Pandya’s captaincy during the T20I series and said that he was very clear in his head and that there was no messing around.
It was enjoyable to watch. There was no messing around. He has a clear mind about the team he wants to play. It was a young team, the key players were missing. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Bumrah were not there and despite that, he is doing a good job.
Kaif also says that Hardik has a very bright future as India’s skipper.
He was getting the job done with the new players and backing them as well. The special thing as a captain is to know what the pitch is saying. We saw three matches in different-different conditions but he knows what decision should be taken. His future is very bright. Hardik Pandya looked fantastic as a captain.
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