The India A cricket Team coach Rahul Dravid believes that the young all-rounder Hardik Pandya has turned around his career by playing as per the situation in the ongoing Australian one-day series.
Pandya who was in India A team that toured Australia last year had an opportunity to work with the batting legend Rahul Dravid. Dravid hopes that the current India A player adopts the same batting approach as Pandya.
While talking ESPNcricinfo during the unofficial test match against New Zealand A Dravid said, “A good example about Hardik from my perspective is, he”s willing to play situations and not just the natural game we often speak about. Credit goes completely to him. It”s not about playing just the one way you want to play. He”s the one who has actually turned his career around,”
Pandya has grabbed the eyes of all the cricket lovers with his six hitting capabilities, bringing it into good effect in the current Australia ODI series scoring two match-winning knock in the three matches so far.
“If he bats at four, he bats in a particular way. If he bats at six, he bats in a particular way. Tomorrow, he may bat at 80 for 4, like he did in the first ODI with Dhoni. That shows maturity and that”s what you want to see. This concept of “play your natural game”, which I hear all the time, frustrates me because there”s no such thing in my belief as “natural game,” the former India captain further mentioned.
The transformation of Pandya is an example of how the exposure the U-19 and India A teams where Dravid has been the coach for the past two years has helped the young cricketers when they get a national call-up. Rishabh Pant is another such example who has been knocking the doors for a national call-up.
“It”s only about how you play different situations. Are you good enough to play when the score is 30 for 3 or 250 for 3? Are you good enough to bat when you go in first over or are you good enough to go in the first ball after lunch? You have to learn to bat differently in different conditions, and if you can do that like Hardik is showing at the moment, those would be signs of a developing cricketer, someone who can make consistent contributions and not someone who is a one-off, who can produce brilliance once in a while. The aspiration and challenges set for a lot of India A players are to be all-weather players, all-situation players, all-condition players,” the wall concluded.
