The tour to South Africa might have been a successful one for India – a well-fought Test series, and a thumping 5-1 victory in the ODI series is something many wouldn’t have bet their money on before the tour. That said, one man who will need to get his thinking cap on is Hardik Pandya. His performance hasn’t been consistent, both as a batsman and as a bowler. You see, when the going is easy, people take your confidence for being self-assured. When the going gets tough, people take that same confidence and call you cocky. The same is happening with Hardik Pandya.

“If Pandya keeps making silly mistakes, he doesn’t deserve to be compared with me,” Kapil Dev was quoted as saying by Times Of India. 

So what really has been the problem? Let’s look at Pandya’s stats in the SA tour, they’ve been abysmal. 

In Tests

In six innings, Pandya has scored just 119 runs, at an average of 19.83. Out of that 93 runs were scored in one innings itself. 

As far as bowling is concerned, he took just three wickets at an average of 54. 

In ODIs

He’s scored just 26 runs in six matches. Agreed, that it’s a tough position to bat considering he has to start banging from ball one, but still, his average of 8.66 is very tail-enderish. 

Bowling wise too, he’s failed to pick up wickets. He has just 4 wickets in 6 matches to show for his efforts, even though he is economy rate of 4.90 is decent. 

All said and done, we trust in Hardik Pandya. His success is vital to Indian team’s plans for the next World Cup. One bad tour doesn’t make him a bad player, and under the able leadership of Virat Kohli, we can expect him to bounce back stronger than ever before. 

Also, to be fair to him, not many Indian batsmen did that well in Tests. He could have bowled better, but we need to cut him some slack. For sure, Pandya is not a bits and pieces cricketer and can warrant a place in the side both as a batsman and a bowler. 

Featured image courtesy: Reuters