Emerging Player of the month - Hardik Pandya.

For some time now,we all have heard Indian skipper M.S.Dhoni saying that the Indian ODI and T-20 team lacks a seaming all rounder. Selectors tried many faces like Stuart Binny, Rishi Dhawan but they failed to create an impact at the international level. A player is consistently making headlines for his stellar performances with the bat and guess what, he can bowl really well too. He is none other than Hardik Pandya who is also our Emerging player of the month.


He had struggled right from his childhood financially but that didn't stop him from playing cricket. He was a very good player at school level and he quickly found himself playing at the domestic level. He impressed everyone at the domestic level as he was a clean hitter of the ball and was handy for some pace bowling. He has a top score of 90 in first class cricket. His T-20 statistics gives us a very positive indication about his cricketing abilities. He has scored about 415 runs in 20 matches averaging 28 which is not at all bad considering the length of the format. He has taken 16 scalps with bowling average of 24.5.

                                        


A major contributor to these statistics was the Syed Mushtaq Ali T-20 tournament. He played for his team Baroda and smacked bowlers all over the park in many matches. As mentioned earlier his clean hitting abilities,an appropriate example is the penultimate over of Akash Sudan, a Delhi bowler as Delhi were pitted against Baroda in this encounter. Hardik launched an absolute carnage as he got 34 runs from the bowling of Sudan. In an interview later Hardik told that he wanted to take the risk and he was all ready to damage the opposition. His great form didn't stop here, he thwacked the bowlers from Vidarbha en route his fiery 86 off just 46 balls. He was the fifth highest run getter in the T-20 tournament. Due to this stellar show he was selected for the T-20 side versus the mighty Aussies.
                                


We cannot forget the part he played for Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2015. He was purchased at his base price of Rs.10 lakh but proved to be much more valuable than the price tag suggests. He won the match for MI when he hit Pawan Negi for three sixes in the penultimate over giving everyone a strong message that he his ready to prove his mettle at the bigger level. He even scored 61 off  31 balls vs KKR  which helped MI to score a competitive score and eventually they won the match. After this match Navjot Singh Sidhu even had a nickname or a title for Hardik. He called him "Sledgehammer" referring to his clean hitting abilities.



In an interview with a newspaper he told "I would be a right candidate for the all rounder that team India needs." He even told that Australian conditions wouldn't be too difficult to adapt. This self belief and confidence is the biggest positive for Hardik Pandya.


He is just 22 years old and a long journey for him has already seems planned. Would he really be the answer to the need of an all rounder that India wants. We will find the answer in the T-20 series against Australia.