Parthiv Patel was critical of Hardik Pandya’s knock during the run chase in the Rajkot T20I, saying that the all-rounder cannot take 20 to 25 balls to get settled in during a high-pressure situation. Hardik top scored for India with 40 as they lost the 3rd T20I against England by 26 runs. The all-rounder was trying to take the bowling deep but failed to accelerate when needed.
Hardik played a sedate knock especially in the middle overs as Adil Rashid and the rest of the England bowlers tightened the screws around India to seal the win. There were a couple of instances when Hardik refused to take a single, with the final one coming the last ball of the 18th over before he perished in the next one. The all-rounder was slammed by fans for his knock and the pundits weren’t fans of the innings as well.
Parthiv, while talking to Star Sports, said that the all-rounder ended up putting a lot of unwanted pressure on other batters by eating up a lot of deliveries. The former wicketkeeper said that the all-rounder needed to rotate his strike consistently.
“I thought when you are taking your time you want to get used to the pace and bounce of the pitch. But you cannot take 20-25 balls to get settled. So that put pressure on the other batters as well. If you don’t want to play those big shots, that’s okay, but you still have to keep on rotating the strike. You can’t play three or four dot balls in a row.”
“And you might just see Hardik Pandya scoring 40 off 34 balls, but there are a number of dots in his innings that put pressure on the other batters as well. So, I think that’s something which India can think of. You take your time. Yes, it’s a low score, but you still have to keep rotating the strike as well with it,” said Parthiv. India and England will square off in the 4th T20I on January 31.
