During the one-day international series that just came to an end between Team India and England, Graeme Swann was overjoyed to see Hardik Pandya use his short-pitched bowling to get the best of the batters from the other team.
During the one-day international series that India played against England, Hardik took six wickets, the majority of which were achieved by short-pitched deliveries. His performance in the last one-day international, which decided the series, saw him record his greatest return in 50-over cricket with figures of 4/24.
What did Graeme Swann say about Hardik Pandya?
Swann said in his post-match analysis for Sony Sports that Hardik bowled several short balls with a surprising amount of pace, which caused the batters for England to be stunned. He went on to explain:
“I really like how he (Hardik) handled the situation. He bowled short balls, and Hardik has a lot of pace. He is one of those individuals who, because he is an all-rounder, gives the impression that he is merely a medium pacer. However, this is not the case; he is faster than that, and he is a robust young man.”
Swann lauded Hardik for the straightforward strategy he had developed to get the England batsmen dismissed. The former England spinner provided the following explanation:
“Because he is tall, he can really cause problems for the best batters when he gets in their face. Hardik should be commended for his efforts since he was successful in dismissing the top-order batsmen for England rather than the batters who were at the bottom of the order. The strategy for the game was quite straightforward: just rush up, hit the deck hard, and bowl excellent rapid bouncers. The bouncer is one of my favorite deliveries to use in one-day international cricket, and it’s doing well.”
Because of his outstanding performance across the board in the one-day internationals, Hardik Pandya was selected as the “Player of the Series.” The all-rounder for Baroda not only took six wickets with the ball, but he also scored 100 runs over the course of his two innings.
Buttler and Livingstone were both caught by Ravindra Jadeja after Hardik Pandya enticed them to play big strokes against short-pitched deliveries. Pandya’s tactic allowed Jadeja to take the catch of both batsmen in the deep.
Rishabh Pant was able to take a catch behind the wickets off Jason Roy after the latter hit a clumsy shot in response to another short-of-a-length ball. Ben Stokes gave a routine return catch to Hardik.
