Following India’s 66 run defeat against Australia in the 1st ODI at Sydney, skipper Virat Kohli stressed upon the absence of the 6th bowling option in the side as the Indian team had to restricted to just five bowlers as Hardik Pandya who is mainly an all-rounder played as a pure batsman in the side.

When compared to the Australian bowling unit, they had an extra 6th bowler in the form of Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis in the side as compared to India’s five bowlers. Moreover, none of India’s top-order batsman are recognized bowlers which went against the Indian side in the loss against Australia.

With Hardik playing just as a batsman right now, India didn’t have an all-rounder in the group to give the ball to after the 5 essential bowlers yielded excess runs. Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal had a bad day at the Sydney Cricket Ground as he conceded 89 runs in his quota of 10 overs where he managed to pick just one wicket under his name.

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‘Look in Pandya Family’ – Hardik Pandya to Virat Kohli

Post the completion of the match, Hardik Pandya reflected on skipper Virat Kohli’s comments on the absence of the fifth bowler in the side. Pandya stressed upon the importance of the sixth bowler in the side as whenever a bowler has a day off, he becomes an essential service for the sixth bowler to fill in the required overs.

He further added that if India doesn’t have one right now, then they will have to groom one just like they did with him. He accepted that he initially wasn’t the all-rounder he wanted to be but he worked on his bowling and further became a useful bowling asset for team India.

“Yeah, it is always going to be difficult when you go with five bowlers. When someone is having an off day you don’t have someone to fulfil the quota. More than injury, the sixth bowler’s role is when someone among the five bowlers is having a bad day. I think it is going to be… maybe we will have to make, maybe we will have to find someone who has already played India, and groom them and find a way to make them play,” the junior Pandya added.

Hardik Pandya in the end, reluctantly hinted towards his brother Krunal Pandya saying ‘Look in the Pandya family’ when Kohli reflected back on the absence of an all-rounder in the side.

 ‘Look in the Pandya family, there’s one waiting at home’, he said hinting towards Krunal.

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