India’s failure to beat Australia in the final of the World Test Championship has led to a chorus of calls for youngsters to be included in the Indian team set up at the expense of some of the battle-hardened veterans. However, former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief Sourav Ganguly believes that someone like a Hardik Pandya would have been a good addition to the Indian Test team.
“I hope Hardik Pandya is listening. I want to see him play Test cricket, especially in these conditions,” Ganguly told India Today in an interview recently.
Pandya has not played a Test since 2018 and he has opted sit out of the five-day format due to fitness concerns.
Ganguly’s opinion echoes that of former Australia captain Ricky Ponting who had said that Pandya’s all-round abilities could have turned out to be the deciding factor in the one-off game.
“I know he is on record saying that the Test match game is probably a little bit hard on his body. But for a one-off game… he’s been bowling every game through this IPL and he’s bowling quick. He (Pandya) could be that X-factor there just to pick in a one-off game, come in and see what he can do with bat and ball. He could be the difference between the two teams,” Ponting had said on ICC’s website.
