Prior to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, a lot of questions loomed over the fitness and form of Hardik Panday. He was away from the action, rehabilitating at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. Also, his team Gujarat Titans wasn’t considered a strong contender in the tournament as the team didn’t feature many big names.
But Pandya and his men stunned one and all with their stellar show in the tournament. The Titans won 10 out of 14 league matches, ending at the top of the table. They were the first one to make it to the playoffs and ultimately, ended up with the coveted IPL trophy.
More importantly, Pandya the all-rounder was back in the rhythm. 487 runs, at an average of 44.27, along with 8 wickets; it was a great season for the 28-year-old. Former India batting great Sunil Gavaskar was extremely delighted to see Pandya back in form, months ahead of the much-awaited T20 World Cup in Australia.
“The selection committee will be delighted with the way he has come through. Everyone had seen him batting but nobody had seen him bowl. Now he is coming and bowling four overs sometimes or three overs on the trot which shows that he is 100 per cent fit. But yes, he has got to be managed well. When you have a back injury as serious as that where you have surgery, you got to be managed. But the fact that he is coming and bowling at over 140, means he was letting it rip,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports after the final.
“Also, the shot selection he showed as a batter. He wasn’t throwing his bat at just about everything. It was absolutely terrific. In this game, you tend to look for six and get out but generally with captaincy, just like it did with Rohit Sharma, the shot selection became better. Rohit, too like Hardik was brilliant, but the moment he got the captaincy, he started scoring 70, 80, 100s as well,” he said.
