Hardik Pandya has been praised by Sanjay Manjrekar for his ability to maintain composure under duress and deliver fantastic performances.
On Sunday, Pandya hit an unbeaten 33 off only 17 balls to lead India to a victory against Pakistan by five wickets in the first match of the Asia Cup 2022. (August 28). Before the Indian innings began, the seam-bowling all-rounder scooped up three wickets, helping the Men in Blue bowl out their arch-rivals for 147 runs.
The comeback is greater than the setback 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/KlnD4GZ4ZO
— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) August 29, 2022
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What did Sanjay Manjrekar say about Hardik Pandya?
During a chat on the Sports 18 program titled “Sports Over the Top”, Manjrekar was questioned about a facet of Hardik Pandya’s manner that strikes him the most these days. He responded by saying that it is Hardik Pandya’s confidence. In response, he said:
“Only this calmness. Everything about him seems so unreal. His bowling returns are phenomenal, which is something you can get with other players as well, but what sets him apart is his ability to remain cool and score runs under the intense pressure.”
We fought. We fought real hard! And we’ll keep fighting 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/7esrZxg74l
Advertisement— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) August 28, 2022
When Manjrekar was asked to reflect on Pandya’s knock in the match against Pakistan, he brought up the fact that the Baroda all-rounder was all of a sudden faced with a spin bowler in the last over of the match. The former India batter gave the following explanation:
“That final over was a hard one because Hardik was in there and played the faster bowlers predominantly, so there was a rhythm of hitting against the quicker bowlers. Suddenly, the scenario was such that they had to bring in the left-arm spinner.”
When Pandya arrived at the crease in the 15th over of the Indian innings, Mohammad Nawaz still had one over left to bowl. Babar Azam made the strategic decision to finish out the innings with his fast bowlers and wait until the very last over to put in his left-arm spinner.
