Time to promote Hardik Pandya up the batting order?

File image of Hardik Pandya

It’s quite intriguing that the most explosive Twenty20 batsman in the Indian team often gets the least balls to play. No one has a better strike rate than Hardik Pandya (143.24) in the current side and only KL Rahul (143.13) comes close.

However, while Rahul mostly opens the innings, his teammate Pandya usually bats at number six or sometimes even lower. In the third Twenty20 International (T20I) against England, which was played in Ahmedabad, Pandya came out to bat in the 15th over and tried to play an uncharacteristic role of a second-fiddle to captain Virat Kohli when the team was precariously placed at 86 for 5.

Despite Kohli’s brilliance and a marvelous innings, it was fairly obvious that the Indians were short of at least 20-25 runs in challenging the visitors. In the post match analysis with the host broadcaster, former Indian opener Aakash Chopra suggested that India should have utilised Pandya’s ability better as batter by giving him more balls to play.

Astonishingly, Pandya has not got an opportunity to bat in nearly 35 percent of the matches (30 out of 46) he has played since his debut in 2016.  If you consider a total of 35 balls faced in 11 (of those 30 when he batted) matches, you get an idea of how this resource is being hugely under-utilised.

Only in precisely dozen matches, Pandya has faced a dozen or more balls in the inning (12 balls constitute 10 percent of a T20 innings). Perhaps, that is the only reason that the 27-year-old has not posted a fifty in the shortest format of the game.

“It’s not ideal but if you send Hardik at number six, that is actually detrimental and counter-productive because you have got a player who has got form and you are not sending him up the order,” Chopra had said in a video shared on his Facebook page, making a similar observation before the second T20I against Australia in December 2020.

One may argue that Pandya’s role as a middle-order batsman for the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) is not very different from his India stint. However, there is one crucial difference. While Pandya on an average gets to face just six balls (296 in 46 matches) per T20I match for India, he faces more than 10 (so far 847 in 80 matches) for MI. This also gives him a better strike rate (nearly 160) and average (nearly 30) than his India numbers (strike rate of 143 and average of around 18).

When Pandya was adjudged ‘Player of the Series’ against Australia in the T20I series last year, the great Kapil Dev had also urged Kohli to move him higher in the batting order. “You need two-three players in the middle-order who can give you momentum. There is Hardik Pandya. You can make him a number four batsman in T20Is. It’s all about experimenting,” Kapil had told ABP Uncut.

So, what is the reason behind holding Pandya late in the batting order? There are possibly two reasons: First, of course, is that no one is as lethal as Pandya in the final overs with his staggering ability to hit sixes at will. Second could be that India has many options in the top-order and sending Pandya further up may not be the best move.  Or, is it that Pandya’s extraordinary strength becoming a hurdle for his further progress?

“He has got the idea of staying there and finishing the game. Confidence is building every day. He is someone who is a proper finisher for Team India. He is as good as (Andre) Russell, maybe better than, I would say,” former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh told India Today after Pandya’s whirlwind match-winning knock of 42 runs off just 22 balls in the second T20I against Australia in Sydney last year. Coming into bat with India needing 75 to win in the remaining 6.3 overs, Pandya had not only taken his team to victory, but also exhibited a brilliant display of caution mixed with aggression.

One of the most fearsome hitters of all-time, Virender Sehwag, was originally a middle order player. He was sent to open the innings in a Test by Sourav Ganguly in 2004 and that revolutionised the role of an opener in red ball cricket. Not too long ago, Sehwag too had publicly argued for Pandya’s promotion in white ball cricket. “There will be a lot of circumstances where he will get a chance to bat up the order. He may even come to bat at number four after Virat Kohli. There he will get the opportunity to make his highest score,” Sehwag said on the Sony Sports Network during India’s T20I series against Australia.

It’s not just the T20 format that a strong case is being made for Pandya to bat higher up in the order. Since the 2019 Cricket World Cup, experts have been arguing for his promotion in One Day Internationals (ODIs) as well. Yes, Pandya comes into the team as an all-rounder but if he faces an average of less than 15 balls a match, somehow it does not do justice to the sheer potential he possess with the bat.

The all-rounder from Baroda has caught the attention of global experts as well. “I think Hardik’s got a chance to be the next superstar .He has to look at the next three years. With the next T20I world cup being [played] in India, obviously, the IPL being in India, the next 50-over World Cup is in India in 2023; Hardik Pandya has got a great opportunity to become the next global superstar," former England captain Michael Vaughan had told Cricbuzz a couple of months ago.

Is it time to move superstar Pandya in the batting order so that he can play bigger innings rather than just cameos?