Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been making the headlines following his impressive show with the bat in the recently-concluded limited-overs series against Australia. Pandya’s exploits with the bat saw him earn praise from all corners including Kapil Dev, who urged skipper Virat Kohli to experiment with Pandya’s batting position ahead of T20 World Cup next year.
Pandya was the top-scorer for India in the ODIs where he notched up 201 runs in three games before bagging the Man of the Series award in the three-match T20I series. The ace all-rounder looked a lot matured and responsible offering stability in India’s middle-order.
Hardik Pandya should be tried at No.4 in T20Is – Kapil Dev
As Hardik Pandya’s reputation as a batsman continues to rise, former India skipper Kapil Dev wants Pandya to bat at No.4 in the shortest format to bring out the best. Incidentally, India have two T20 World Cup lined-up back to back. India will host the 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup followed by the next one in Australia in 2022.
“You need to 2-3 players in the middle-order who can give you momentum. There is Hardik Pandya. You can make him a No.4 batsman in T20s. It’s all about experimenting,” Kapil Dev told ABP Uncut.
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Meanwhile, many former cricketers suggested to include Hardik Pandya in the four-match Test series. However, the cricketer has returned back to the country and has maintained that he will return to red-ball cricket once he is fit to bowl.
Apart from Pandya, Kapil Dev also suggested India should use the likes of Mayank Agarwal and Sanju Samson more in T20Is to build a young team for the twin World Cups.
“You have youngsters like Mayank and Sanju Samson. The captain has to back youngsters and also the management. The think tank has to believe in building a new team because T20 is a format of the youth.
“It is surprising that despite hosting IPL for so many years you are still apprehensive in taking such calls. T20 allows youngsters to be ruthless and if there was no IPL then there wouldn’t have been any discussion but since we have a tournament like IPL, we should make more use of it,” Kapil Dev added.
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