Hardik Pandya picked up four wickets as he kept bowling short during the third ODI match at Old Trafford against England. This strategy worked wonders as picked up wickets in heap. In a memorable over, he managed to remove the likes of Liam Livingstone and Jos Buttler in the same over to derail England’s chase.
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Former India pacer Zaheer Khan, who has seen Pandya up and close, said that this augurs well for Team India as his fitness remained a cause of concern, adding that short ball has been his strength since his debut.
“Yes, if you look at Hardik’s career also, he has been using these short pitch balls to good effect and then he improved on his length, bowling full lengths as he progressed in his career. Hardik Pandya’s strength has been his short-pitched delivery and the fact that he bowls 140 plus,” he told Cricbuzz.
Hardik Pandya picked four wickets against England, helping India bundle hosts out for 259. He bowled seven overs.
“It is good to see that he has been bowling six to seven overs, his bowling has not been an issue. It’s how his body is responding to the workload and now you can see his fitness now improving with he bowling those overs. This is good news for Indian cricket team,” he added.
Zaheer further added that Hardik the bowler brings balance to Indian team.
“So, Hardik the bowler changes India’s balance in huge way, you can ask anyone around the world and they would say the same thing. For team as a whole, Hardik the bowler is a far more attractive package than Hardik the batter.”
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Rohit made a bold move to field first given that eight of the last nine games at Old Trafford have been won by teams batting first.
His English counterpart Buttler was happy to bat first and Bumrah not around was comforting for the hosts. But little did he know that the world-class bowler’s replacement for the day would rock their boat so early into their innings, that too on a batting-friendly wicket.
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