Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan believes Hardik Pandya got stuck in between after India suffered an ignominious loss of 76 runs against South Africa at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Sunday. Pandya, who was sent at number seven, was dismissed after scoring 18 runs off 17 balls in the run chase of 188.
The required run-rate was hovering around 12 when Pandya joined forces with Shivam Dube but the duo could not hit the big shots. The pair added 35 runs off 30 balls after India was left tottering at 51-5. Eventually, the home team was skittled out for a paltry score of 111 and suffered a heavy loss.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Irfan Pathan said, “I felt that when Shivam Dube and Hardik were batting, Hardik at that time had two options: either play cautiously and see it through till the end, or show complete aggression from the start. When he came in and got out, he was playing at a strike rate of around 100. It felt like he got stuck in between. Because so many wickets had fallen, four or five wickets, you have to make a decision about your approach.”
“Either you go all out, and if you go all out, but if Hardik’s innings ends at a strike rate of 100, then it does not make sense. Or you decide to keep playing and try to improve the run rate, and from there, if the team wins the game that would be great. But there was no improvement in the run rate, and there was no real sense of calculation. It seemed like he just saw the ball and hit it,” he added
The former swing bowler said Shivam Dube, who scored 42 runs off 37 balls, was the lone warrior for the team with the bat. None of the other Indian batters could even breach the 20-run mark.
Pathan concluded, “Shivam Dube looked like a lone warrior who fought hard, and this is being talked about consistently. I am saying that this guy comes in, plays a cameo, and plays a good innings. In the World Cup final, Asia Cup final against Pakistan, and here as well, against South Africa, he was the only one fighting and trying to ensure that the run rate did not drop too much, otherwise this loss could have been by 100 runs. Anyway, we lost by 76 runs.”
India will next take on Zimbabwe at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, on Thursday.
