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Hardik Pandya is an incredible cricketer. He can average more than 30 with the bat, and faster than run a ball. He is a good fifth bowler, and a great sixth one. Not to mention a plus in the field.
There is no doubt that Hardik Pandya came into the World Cup as one of the most valuable limited-overs cricketers in the world. Any team in the World would pass over their favourite pop star to get him into their side.
And yet, since Hardik Pandya got injured, has India actually been better?
So how is this so, that India have not noticed the loss of perhaps the most valuable player in current ODI cricket?
First, let’s look at how good he was.
Between the two World Cups, Hardik Pandya featured in 28 matches. He scored 801 runs from 23 innings at an average of 40.05 and a strike rate of 104.43. Any player in the world will take these numbers. To do that when you can bowl, and are batting down the order, that is pretty special.
With the ball, he picked up 25 wickets at 26.08 runs apiece at an economy of 5.34. I want you to pause for a moment, because those are not the numbers of a sixth option. That is a frontline bowler there. Now some of it is because he bowls in a great attack, and he doesn’t always have to do the hard overs. But even so, those numbers are something special.
Let me put it this way: he was the 9th quickest batter with at least 500 runs while batting at positions 4 to 7. Also; he had the 9th-best bowling average for all pacers with a minimum of 25 wickets. In the last cycle of the World Cup, he was good enough to be picked in most teams in the world with batting or bowling.
So after Hardik twisted his ankle in the India-Bangladesh game, we asked if Hardik Pandya was the most important player in the Indian team. Sure, Virat, Rohit and Bumrah were among the best players in the world at their specific roles. But none of them could provide the balance of an all-rounder who was in brilliant form in the leadup to this World Cup.
To replace Hardik, India had to make two changes ahead of the game against New Zealand at Dharamsala. Think about that, to replace him, it took two changes, because you had to sure up the batting and bowling. He was the rug that really tied the room together. SKY and Shami were in, and Shardul was now also benched. This meant India had no batting depth beyond seven, and just five frontline bowlers in their playing XI. Surely, as dynamic a batter as SKY is, you’d have to agree that Hardik is a way better and more experienced ODI batter for the number 6 role.
Shami just casually walked into the side off the bench and is now the highest wicket-taker despite playing 4 games fewer than most of the contenders. He has now taken 23 wickets at 9 (NINE!!) runs a piece, striking every 2 overs. I think it would be a very fair argument to consider this as one of the greatest bowling campaigns by a bowler in a World Cup. Starc 2015 is still a massive outlier. But that is for another day.
So that’s already a massive upgrade on Shardul Thakur, who with all due respect is just not in the same tier of bowling. In fact, Harik’s injury meant they could move on from using Shardul as a backup bowler and backup batter. That is one reason this team has improved.
Now, Shami has obviously been magnificent. But you can see here that there are 3 bowlers in his side who have been extremely economical and have also picked up a fair bunch of wickets. Siraj hasn’t quite been at the same level as the other bowlers, but he has been alright.
The Indian team management has also talked about Virat Kohli as a potential 6th bowling option, if needed. It was funny when he managed to get Scott Edwards out in that fashion, but I think he’s the sort of part-timer that might get tricky to face in micro doses on the right kind of wicket. But if Siraj or Bumrah roll their ankle first ball of their spell, India have a near void ten overs. That hasn’t happened, so Hardik’s injury hasn’t hurt them there.
But I’ve talked a lot about the Evan Gulbis effect, and how having a weaker number 8 often means that the top-order batters look at the team sheet. Look at Virat for instance, he strikes at over a run-a-ball in the games with Shardul in the XI. However, his strike rate without Shardul at 8 is in the 80s. That could be pitches or match situations. You also need to factor in that India were chasing fairly simple targets in those 3 games where Kohli went at over a 100 strike rate. But the point is, that not having a strong number eight, which Hardik allowed for, has changed things slightly.
But look at his South Africa innings. With Shami at number 8, he decided to knock it around even in the death overs while SKY and Jadeja attacked. I think it was a team strategy, given South Africa’s chasing struggles. Kohli also mentioned the importance of batting deep at the halfway point of the match, which also makes sense considering the quality of the Indian bowling unit.
So, here’s a look at the Indian top 5 batters. This makes things very clear. Rohit is the aggressor at the top-order, who will go nuts in the Powerplay no matter what. The fact that he has had such little failure in a high-risk role makes it even more special. Virat is the anchor. He has the most runs in this World Cup, also the most by any batter in a single World Cup. He’s usually looked to bat through the innings.
Shreyas Iyer has been absolutely magnificent, and him being able to play freely and attack has worked out brilliantly. Shubman Gill was suffering from dengue fever so he missed the first couple of games, but he’s also had a pretty good campaign himself. And of course, King Legend Rahul. He is the opener you need when you’re 2 for 3, and also the aggressor when the team is 320/2 in the 44th over.
Now, on SKY. He’s played a couple of critical cameos against England and South Africa that proved vital in the game's context. Batted towards the end of the innings against the Netherlands and in the semi-final. He was run out against New Zealand in the group stage game, and he failed v SL. If India bat deep, his inability to average high numbers doesn’t matter, because you just want him to go boom. Hardik can replicate his power but is also better at scoring in general. But because of how good India has been, SKY has been fine.
Hardik’s injury has always been mitigated by Ravi Jadeja. He was in a terrible form slump in ODI cricket coming into this World Cup. But he has also been pretty impactful in the limited opportunity with the bat. He has stepped up when needed in three of the four games in this tournament till now.
So have India been better without Hardik Pandya? Yes. But not because he has been gone. His absence meant India had to pick an extra strike bowler, and their batting in their top five has been so strong that you could use a pickled egg at six and they’d still win.
If Hardik was fit right now, they would keep Shami as well. Hardik would obviously slot in at number 6 in this team, ensuring bowling injuries didn’t matter. He could be used when they need any extra seamer strategically. Slog the arse out of the ball, or score more runs than Sky.
But if you really want to know how good India have been this World Cup, they lost this incredible ODI force, and they actually played better.
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