Hardik Pandya’s all-round show in India’s opening game of the 2022 Asia Cup has seen him jump eight places on the T20I allrounder’s rankings chart to a career-best fifth position.
Hardik was instrumental in India getting the better of Pakistan by five wickets in Dubai on Sunday. Hitting the hard lengths consistently, Hardik picked up 3 for 25 in his four overs to bowl out Pakistan for 147 in 19.5 overs. He then shepherded a tricky chase smashing an unbeaten 33 in 17 balls to take India over the line with two balls to spare.
Hardik has enjoyed a tremendous year with both bat and ball. He led Gujarat Titans to a win in their maiden season in the IPL putting up solid all-round efforts and has since translated that form into international cricket as well.
Since the end of IPL 2022, Hardik has featured in 14 T20Is where he has scored 314 runs at an average of 34.88 and picked up 11 wickets with best figures of 4 for 33 against England. He has also captained India in three T20Is – two against Ireland and one against West Indies – with India winning all three matches.
“In bowling, my plans were pretty simple,” Hardik told Star Sports after the India-Pakistan clash. “I always tell the same thing. It’s just how I use it. I tell that it’s important to kind of assess the situation and conditions, and use your weapon which I feel, you know, hard lengths and hitting the length is my strength. But I make sure I use it very wisely, put some doubt in the batter and ask them to play the wrong shot.”
About his batting form, Hardik said, “In batting, over the years, I have understood [that] the calmer I can stay, it’s going to help me execute all the plans. Those executions, the 50-50 chances that I take, if I am calmer, it helps me to pull it off. Chases like this, you always plan overs.”
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Elsewhere, there were gains for Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the T20I rankings for bowlers after Afghanistan became the first team to qualify for the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup. Rashid’s 3 for 22 against Bangladesh saw him jump two spots over fellow wristspinners Adil Rashid and Adam Zampa on the list of T20I bowlers. He is now No. 3 with only Tabraiz Shamsi and Josh Hazlewood ahead of him.
Mujeeb, after picking five wickets in the first two games at the Asia Cup, entered the top ten of the bowling rankings soaring seven places to be ninth on the rankings table.
On the Test front, Ben Stokes’ efforts in England’s win over South Africa in the 2nd Test in Manchester, saw him move up across all three rankings list. His 103 runs and four wickets took him nine places on the batting list to 18th, five positions up on the bowling chart to 38th and into second place among allrounders.
