In Short
- Hardik Pandya hasn’t played Test cricket since 2018
- He has played 11 Tests in his career and scalped 17 wickets
- India have tried Shardul Thakur and Nitish Reddy in recent times
New Zealand women’s cricket team head coach Craig McMillan has said that India are missing an all rounder Hardik Pandya in Tests. Pandya last played Tests in 2018 in England and has never skipped the longest format due to injury concerns. In the recently concluded five-match Test series against, India missed a seam all-rounder as Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shardul Thakur couldn’t do justice to their roles.
Recently, Craig McMillan said that while India have the services of Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar as spin all rounders for Asian conditions. They need a player like Hardik Pandya for overseas conditions. He gave the example of England captain Ben Stokes, saying that he’s two players in one.
“In Asian conditions, you need a spin-bowling allrounder like Jadeja, Washington or previously R Ashwin. In NZ, Australia and England, you need a fast-bowling allrounder. It is where India are missing a player like Hardik Pandya who can bowl medium pace and bat lower down the order. For England, Ben Stokes is two players in one,” McMillan told Times of India.
Pandya has played 11 Tests in his career and scalped 17 wickets at an average of 31.05 with one five-wicket haul to his name, which came in a winning cause against England in Nottingham. He also accumulated 532 runs at an average of 31.29 with one hundred and four fifties.
Furthermore, McMillan also shared his views on Shubman Gill’s first Test series as captain and backed him to learn from his mistakes.
“He looks a good captain. The first series is very tough. In such a pressure-cooked series, he probably made a few mistakes. But you expect those in his first series. He will get better with experience. He is the future, so India will invest in him. He will get to know his team’s game, which I think is really important, and the style of play,” he added.
Gill had a phenomenal series as he scored 754 runs from ten innings at an average of 75.4 with four hundreds to his name. He started the series with a magnificent 147 at Headingley, Leeds and further accumulated 430 runs (269, 161) in the second Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham – the second-highest match aggregate in the format.
He further scored a match-saving 103 in the fourth Test at Old Trafford in Manchester, helping India draw the match. Courtesy of his prolific run, he was deservedly adjudged Player of the Series after leading his men to a historic draw.
