The last and only time when India won the T20 World Cup, it was Yuvraj Singh who excelled with his all-around performance and won the Player of the Tournament award. As the men in blue look to end a decade-long draught of ICC titles, all eyes will be on the Indian allrounders, especially Hardik Pandya who also happens to be the deputy of skipper Rohit Sharma this time.
Hardik endured a tough time before coming to the West for the showpiece event. His homecoming to Mumbai Indians as a captain didn’t produce the desired results as the five-time champions were the first ones to be knocked out of the IPL 2024. Constant booing and criticism were handy while he had an underwhelming season with the bat and ball, scoring 216 runs and picking up 11 wickets in 14 matches.
But once he donned the blue Indian jersey, he was a complete zone altogether. In the warm-up fixture against Bangladesh, he played a knock of 44 not out and picked up 1 wicket in the winning cause. Now that he seems to be back in form, the expectations from him are higher as well.
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Former India opener Wasim Jaffer has opined that Pandya needs to replicate Yuvraj’s heroics from the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup to give India a big chance to win. Speaking with ESPN Cricinfo, Jaffer said the all-rounder’s role of all-rounders will be crucial for India and hoped Hardik would step up on the big occasion.
“When India won the World Cup in 2011 and 2007 (T20), Yuvraj Singh’s role was very crucial. So they will be hoping that Hardik Pandya steps up as an all-rounder. The role of both Hardik and Shivam Dube will be very crucial. Even Jadeja and Axar as all-rounders will be important where you may play two left-arm spinners,” Jaffer told ESPNCricinfo.
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“I think Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja all three will play. You can unleash Axar Patel too against sides that you feel are a bit weak against spin. But the aforementioned three all-rounders will play according to me,” he added.
While Dube will be playing his first World Cup, Pandya has been playing ICC tournaments since 2016. In the last edition of the T20 World Cup, the dynamic all-rounder played a couple of crucial knocks, against Pakistan (40) in the group stage and England (63) in the semi-final.
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