Hardik Pandya has become the darling of India cricket, helping India win matches one after the other. His brilliant all-round performance played an important role in helping India beat Australia in the third ODI in Indore by five wickets on Sunday.
The all-rounder picked up one wicket and scored 72-ball 78, which paved the way for India to emerge victorious. However, it was more of his batting skills, where he hit some incredible sixes and shouldered responsibility that stood out.
Pandya, who has batted in number six or seven most of the times, was promoted up the order. He walked onto bat at number four, which even flummoxed on-air commentators during the time after India had got a solid start from Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma.
This promotion of Pandya seems to be India coach Ravi Shastri's idea, which worked wonders.
India captain Virat Kohli explained how Ravi wanted Pandya to attack the spinner and take the game away from Australia.
"Pandya is a star. He has the ability with the ball, bat and the field. We need a guy like that, we've been missing an explosive all-rounder, great asset for Indian cricket. His promotion today was Ravi Bhai's (Ravi Shastri) thought. He felt we needed to attack the spinner. We totally back him and he's a hardworking guy," Kohli said during the presentation ceremony.
Pandya made full use of the promotion, taking on Australia's left-arm spinner, Ashton Agar, who was hit for some massive sixes.
There is an element of no fear in Pandya's batting, which makes him a dangerous hitter of a cricket ball. When Ravi had given him the license, Pandya did exactly what the doctor ordered.
Though this idea, initiated by Ravi might have been successful, one does not see him batting at number four in the remainder of the series. His batting is well suited as a finisher, lower down the order.
India will host Australia for the fourth ODI in Bengaluru on Thursday.
