India vs Bangladesh: What Hardik Pandya’s nonchalant no-look shot says about the comeback man | Cricket News

When the cameras zoomed onto his face, Hardik Pandya’s jaws snapped the gum with a theatrical flourish. The stroke he had executed exemplified his nonchalant coolness – a ramp off a pacer over the wicketkeeper’s head, without even looking at the ball or its eventual destination.No-look shots have a mystical fondness in cricket, like the back-heel in football or the ‘tweener’ in tennis. A no-look ramp is even more electrifying. When a batsman has played the shot from right under the eye-line, with the ball almost kissing the chest, their eyes would reflexively travel with the ball, till it reaches its eventual destination.
But Hardik rebelled against human nature and reflexes. He watched the ball until it climbed onto his torso. He arched his upper body to manufacture space for his hands to help the ball beyond the ‘keeper’s reach, like he was playfully slapping a friend at a reunion.

Insane no look shot Hardik Pandya. You just have to let some people be 🙂 pic.twitter.com/IkecwM5gR4
— Vibin Babuurajan 👋 (@vibinbaburajan) October 6, 2024
And then he stopped watching: His eyes, throughout the sequence, were firmly fixed on the ground, as though to collect debris of the shock that had clutched the stadium.
The bowler Taskin Ahmed stood bemused, hands on hips, as though he had watched something supernatural. Hardik kept furiously chomping at the gum. His heart though would have leapt in joy.
Behind-the-stumps range
The ball was just a nudge under 132 clicks. It pitched almost in Taskin’s half. There was ample time to chisel his response. A few balls earlier, Hardik had ramped Mustafizur Rahman over third man, the ball flying squarer this time, because of the left-armer’s angle from over the stumps.
The dexterousness to harness the bowler’s pace is an understated dimension of his batting, lost perhaps in his midwicket brutality or the clean-hitting, down-the-wicket range. But Hardik has a rich oeuvre — he can uppercut, ramp, dab and steer, late cut and slash, glide and glance through the leg-side — all behind-the-stumps strokes.
His technique and movements are naturally suited for pyrotechnics. He moves lithely at the crease, has a supple frame, narrow at the hips – that he could bend and tw to make room like a gymnast – has pliant hands to make late adjustments, and beyond it, the courage to conceive shots of such ridiculous propositions.

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The shot. The reaction. The result ➡️ EPIC 😎
WATCH 🎥🔽 #TeamIndia | #INDvBAN | @hardikpandya7 | @IDFCFIRSTBank https://t.co/mvJvIuqm2B
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 6, 2024
The 16-ball 39 not out in Gwalior on Sunday was a short film on his outrageous shot-making canvas. Just before the no-look ramp, Hardik had bludgeoned leg-spinner Rishad Hossain through extra-cover, off the back foot, with such momentum that he almost slipped in the recoil. Earlier, he lofted-drove Rahman exquisitely through extra cover with a textbook high elbow. And he wrapped up the chase with a trademark clump through midwicket.
Rocky Pandya
Every time he played a shot, or when he took his lone wicket of the game, Hardik forced himself not to celebrate. He would not even punch the air or high-five, or smile. He just walked with a casual air, as if he is too cool for celebration, as if all this was no big deal.
Inadvertently, though, his lack of theatre itself has become theatrical, of a man who has long since made his peace with the gaze of others. A sense of ‘Me vs Them’ still fuels him, as it has all through his life. It was just four months ago that he was portrayed as a dislikable figure in the Mumbai Indians camp. That was when he had displaced Rohit Sharma as the franchise’s captain. The barren run of his team was singularly attributed to his lack of charisma and tactical nous. He was booed the same Wankhede crowd that had once sung praise and paeans.

with power and timing!@hardikpandya7 dispatches one over deep extra cover 🔥
Live – https://t.co/Q8cyP5jXLe#TeamIndia | #INDvBAN | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/kNaZjSl1Tq
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 6, 2024
But Hardik is an incredible revival art. Every time one thinks he has suffered a knockout blow, he would drag himself back on his feet and counterpunch. He has often compared himself to Rocky Balboa and one of the latter’s quotes — “It’s not about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward”— featured frequently on his X handle.
As though he had clicked a switch of transformation, he shaped games in the T20 World Cup, dealt the most telling blows to South Africa in the final, and has once again vindicated the selectors’ unflinching faith in him, and yet again proved that when the cogs of his talent align, there is no one quite like him.

Before the barren season with Mumbai Indians, he was being groomed as Rohit’s successor in T20s. But when Rohit retired, the selectors chose Suryakumar Yadav. Whether the move would have hurt Hardik or not is anybody’s guess. But a fire rages within him. That’s when Hardik influences games, when his lack of theatrics become theatrical, when he conjures shots of scary audacity, and when his jaws give the gum another mighty thump.