Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra reckons Hardik Pandya’s striking power has been seen slightly less recently. The Indian skipper could not lead from the front with the bat in the five-match series against the West Indies as he could only manage 77 runs in four innings at an average of 25.67 and a subdued strike rate of 110.

In the last year, Pandya’s T20I numbers haven’t been the greatest and he has also a sedate strike rate. Pandya trudged to 14 runs off 18 balls in the deciding game of the series against the Windies in Florida on Sunday and failed to provide impetus in the middle overs.

“If we see his stats as a batter also in T20Is from 15th August (2022) to 15th August (2023), he has played 25 matches, among those who have batted at No. 4 or lower, he is third from bottom in terms of strike rate. He has not done a lot of hitting there as well. So that is also a problem,” said Chopra on his YouTube Channel.

“The striking power has been seen slightly less. If you see his international numbers for the last little while, you will find that he hasn’t done any significant hitting. In the last 10 T20Is, you see only two or three instances where the runs are more than the balls, which is not a good story,” Chopra added.

Meanwhile, Pandya scored 346 runs in 16 matches in IPL 2023, at a strike rate of 136.76 while leading Gujarat Titans. In fact, Pandya produced better numbers in IPL 2022, scoring 487 runs in 15 matches at an average of 44.27 and a strike rate of 131.26.

“The 2022 IPL was brilliant, where he hit very well, the strike rate was high, the runs and wickets were also more. 2023 was an okay-okay IPL. The runs were also fewer, he picked up only three wickets and the strike rate wasn’t anything special either,” said Chopra.

Pandya is going to hold the key for India in the Asia Cup and the ODI World Cup as he adds balance to the team.