Indian cricket team all-rounder Hardik Pandya impressed with both bat and ball as the Rohit Sharma-led side beat Bangladesh in the first T20I encounter in Gwalior on Sunday. Hardik slammed an unbeaten 39 off just 16 deliveries and recorded bowling figures of 1/26 to emerge as the top performer for the Indian cricket team. Hardik’s show earned him a lot of praise from both fans and experts but former India fast bowler RP Singh believes that Bangladesh are not the right opponents to gauge his progress.
“Bangladesh team ko leke kisi ka true form judge karna, mujhe lagta hai itna sahi soch nahi hai. (I think using a performance against Bangladesh to judge a player's form is not right). The way they are playing, it is not at the highest level at the moment,” RP Singh, an expert for Jio Cinema, told the media.
“Hardik did well, he is capable of doing things like that. But using a performance against this team as a criterion in my opinion is not right. Do that maybe against a better team or in a better competition.”
Besides his batting, Hardik also provides a huge support to the bowling department with his role as a fast bowler. RP Singh pointed out that it was good that he bowled his entire quota of four overs in the match against Bangladesh and hailed it as a positive sign for Rohit Sharma and Co.
“What is good to see is that Hardik Pandya is bowling four overs. There was always a question as to whether he can bowl his full quota or not but he is doing that well now. His batting was always good, where he has improved is in his bowling and fitness. Performance solely Bangladesh team ko dekh ke mujhe nahi lagta hume excited hone chahiye. There are a lot of real tests still to come,” he added.
