Asia Cup 2023: Why could Hardik be the new Dhoni? | Cricket News

Early this year, Hardik Pandya was asked about playing the MS Dhoni role in the ODIs. Pandya would matter-of-factly reply: “I don’t mind coming in and playing the role which somewhere down the line Mahi used to play.” But the sudden comparison weighed him down and he admitted: “But I have to evolve and that is life.”
It was a practical assessment because it’s a difficult and rare art to perfect—he has to blend into different costumes in different circumstances. At times, he has to anchor, at times he has to accumulate, and at other times he has to wield the long handle. Often, in the same innings, he has to play all three roles. That India have yet to fill the Dhoni-shaped hole tells how difficult it is to master the multiple roles he performed for a decade and more. But in his 90-ball 87 against a fast and furious Pakan, he showed definite signs of him evolving into the Dhoni role. It was a knock straight out of the Dhoni playbook.

Reaching the middle at 66/4, with more than 35 overs left in the bank, India needed someone to stretch the innings as much as possible and Pandya went about it without fuss. Realising the pitch was two-paced and scoring straight was not easy, he used the nudges and paddle-sweeps against spinners. When seamers operated, he guided them with the angle, minimising the risk. Babar Azam repeatedly tempted him to go for the big shots as he operated with Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz, but Pandya was not falling for the bait. Not that he would fail had he decided to take them on, but other immediate targets had to be met. Those sixes could wait, and he waited till the 72nd ball of his knock. He hit the first ball for a four, but in the next 32 balls, he struck just one more ball to the fence. But like Dhoni, he can keep the scoreboard ticking along without taking any risks. As many as 53 of his 87 runs were accrued from singles and twos.

Apart from keeping his partner Ishan Kishan calm and building a partnership that changed the course of the innings, Pandya was swiftly changing the gears, setting up for a grandstand finish. In Dhoni’s words, he was not only taking the game deeper, but also keeping the calculative risks in play. Having decided to accelerate in the last four overs of the second powerplay to make most of the four fielders outside the circle, even after losing Kishan, Pandya didn’t change his plans. He can cut loose when he wants to, and that is precisely what he did in the 40th over, which Haris Rauf delivered. He pummelled him for three boundaries, each stroke a stamp of his authority.
The innings, where he was the anchor, accumulator and destroyer, would not have been timelier. With India’s batting line-up yet to assume a full shape, Pandya could perform the Yuvraj-role in the 2011 World Cup. Yuvraj was the adhesive that glued the middle-order together. Pandya could ace that role. For a batting unit that has shown a tendency to struggle against high-quality pace attacks, Pandya relishes pace. Against Pakan, Australia and England – three teams with excellent pace attacks—he averages 69.66, 54.60 and 44.66 respectively. Like Yuvraj, he could bat at No 4, 5, 6 or 7, depending on the situation. If India are to lose early wickets, he could be the anchor-accumulator to take the game deep. Then like Dhoni, he is capable of finishing games too.
Like Dhoni, Pandya did not seem like a natural fit in this role. He was considered the lower-order power-hitter. So was Dhoni, before he evolved from a big-hitter to one of the greatest finishers in the game. (PTI)
Similar evolution
Like Dhoni, Pandya did not seem like a natural fit in this role. He was considered the lower-order power-hitter. So was Dhoni, before he evolved from a big-hitter to one of the greatest finishers in the game. From being a pure, unheralded power-hitter, launching the ball long and hard, he showed the deeper layers of his batting after the 2007 World Cup.Most Read
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With the likes of Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan around, Dhoni – who could hit sixes as and when he intended – promoted himself up the order, often batted in second and third gears, and preferred to take the game deep before unleashing his brute firepower. From consolidating the starts to rescuing acts, Dhoni did it all with aplomb.

Like Dhoni, Pandya also loves hitting big sixes. When he is in a marauding mood, he can inflict enough damage on the opponents, irrespective of the bowlers’ reputation. Like Dhoni could, he can destroy both spinners and pacers with ease. But, of late, Pandya is willing to rein in that side for the sake of his team, club or country, so that other stroke-makers could play around him. His batting has more gears than it was thought in his early days.
But it is not an overnight evolution. Pandya always had different layers to his game other than six-hitting, but those gifts have often flown under the radar, often sparkled sporadically. The focus was always more on his fitness, bowling and of late leadership traits (his captaincy in the IPL has often been likened to Dhoni’s). But it finally took a Dhoni-like rescue act to thrust his batting prowess into the limelight, on the same ground he had scored his only Test hundred. After this knock, Pandya could say he has indeed evolved.