Team India all-rounder Hardik Pandya played a special hand in Sydney, however, couldn’t save his side from 66-run defeat against Australia in the first ODI. Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, who was sceptical about playing Hardik purely as a batsman at the start of the game, completely changed his stance to praise him after the tie.

Incidentally, the ace all-rounder, who underwent lower back surgery at the end of 2019 is yet to resume bowling. Since his return to cricket including the recently-concluded IPL, Hardik Pandya has played solely as a batsman. As a result, many pundits cast doubts after Virat Kohli went with Pandya in place of a pure batsman including Sanjay Manjrekar.

Hardik Pandya showed glimpses of vintage Dhoni – Sanjay Manjrekar

However, the all-rounder from Baroda proved everyone wrong with a swashbuckling 90-run knock to finish as India’s highest run-scorer during the chase. Speaking at the end of the game for broadcaster Sony Six, Sanjay Manjrekar took a 360-degree turn to praise ‘batsman’ Hardik Pandya. Manjrekar admitted that in the manner Pandya chased did have glimpses of vintage MS Dhoni.

“I was a little sceptical as we haven’t seen Hardik Pandya, the pure batsman in the past. But after today, there is a lot of promise,” Manjrekar told Sony Six.

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“Virender Sehwag made a good point about his competitions. In 50-overs cricket, we would be talking about Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant. MS Dhoni used to play that kind of role. Among the options we have, he is an exciting one now after the promise he showed. Obviously, we want him to do this fairly regularly,” he added.

Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya speaking at the end of the game, made it clear that he is not likely to bowl any time soon. One of the reasons behind the decision is the successive T20 World Cups in the next two years.

“It is a process,” Hardik Pandya said when asked where he was with respect to a return to bowling. “I am looking at a long-term goal where I want to be 100% of my bowling capacity for the most important games. The World Cups are coming. More crucial series are coming.

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“I am thinking as a long-term plan, not short-term where I exhaust myself and maybe have something else [injury] which is not there. So it is going to be a process, which I am following. I can’t tell you exactly when I am going to bowl but the process is going on,” he added.