Dhawan, Bhuvi Return to Cricket Field But All Eyes On Hardik
Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya returned to cricket playing a corporate tournament in Mumbai.
- Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya and Shikhar Dhawan returned to competitive cricket in the 16th DY Patil T20 Cup on Friday.
- Pandya scored 38 off 25 and the picked up 3 wickets for 26.
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled a sharp spell of 3-0-14-0 while Dhawan scored 14.
Even as Virat Kohli & Co begin their campaign in the second Test against New Zealand, they would have had one eye on certain proceedings far away in Navi Mumbai.
For it is the absence of this one individual – Hardik Pandya – which has caused havoc to all combination plans of India’s Test, ODI and T20I line-ups over a period of time.
In a very short space of time, Pandya had emerged as a key member of all three squads owing to his all-round skills of medium-fast bowling and big-hitting.
Currently, there is no one of Pandya’s skills as both his replacements Vijay Shankar and Shivam Dube have failed to fill the breach.
Keen eye
Hence Pandya’s return to competitive cricket for the first time since September 2019 was of immense importance for Indian cricket. His absence can be particularly felt in the Test XI because it has resulted in complete lack of balance of the team.
Pandya has not featured in any Test since the English tour of 2018.
Therefore, when news trickled in last week that Pandya could finally be seen in action this week at the 16th DY Patil T20 Cup there was an air of expectation. What further added to it was the possible appearances by two other injured stars Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.
The DY Patil T20 Cup was the ideal platform for them to prove their fitness ahead of India’s upcoming ODI series against South Africa. With almost all domestic tournaments almost over, except the knockout stages of Ranji Trophy, it was just this DY Patil T20 Cup that was left to assess their fitness.
Waiting for the Return
So when the tournament started on Monday, 24 February, it was expected that the trio would play on the second day, but while their side Reliance 1 did turn up there was no sign of them. It then turned out that the trio’s return was completely being managed by the BCCI medical team.
It was then revealed that the trio’s appearance in the tournament was at the insistence of the BCCI who were keen to test their fitness in match conditions. All three were undergoing rehabilitation under the stewardship of Rahul Dravid, the Head of Cricket at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
Instead the duo preferred to train under their personal training staff. However, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly after a meeting with Dravid passed a decree that all contracted players ought to undergo rehab at the NCA.
So as per that plan, the trio of Pandya, Dhawan and Kumar were first undergoing rehab in Bengaluru and then as per a calibrated plan were brought into the DY Patil T20 Cup to prove their match fitness.
The D-Day
Before the day started, there were multiple confirmations about the trio turning out for Reliance 1 finally in the tournament. Once it was confirmed, there was extreme interest in the match to be played in the afternoon at the DY Patil Stadium on Friday.
Everyone waited with bated breath for the impending arrival of the trio. There was going to be a decent turnout of crowd to watch them in action from the stands, apart from an interested written press contingent and a few still photographers, along with IPL broadcaster Star Sports.
But there was already an expectation that the trio will not speak to anyone from the media at this stage as they find their way into competitive cricket.
Star Entry
Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar were the first to arrive for the match. They had their meal in the common lunch room like all the other cricketers featuring in the tournament. There was still no sign of Pandya though.
The match was expected to start at 3:45 pm with toss at 3:15 pm.
Dhawan and Kumar spent their time watching the first match of the day, featuring Indian Navy and CAG. As soon as it ended, both headed down to join the rest of the Reliance 1 squad for training.
Now, the Reliance 1 squad, both on and off the field, is star studded. It is basically also an extension for Mumbai Indians, the IPL franchise, to test some of the selected players in tough match situations.
Just as training began, Pandya arrived to loud cheer from a sparse crowd.
Support Cast of Stars
The Reliance 1 squad is being coached by Mumbai Indians’ Talent Scout Pravin Amre with inputs from their Director of Cricket Operations Zaheer Khan and assistant coach Robin Singh. Watching from the stands were other key members of the Mumbai Indians’ brains trust like former ‘keeper Kiran More and former fast bowler TA Sekar, alongside team manager and former left-arm spinner Rahul Sanghvi.
When play began, Dhawan got into the flow slamming a six and a four, but his innings was short-lived. Shortly thereafter Pandya knocked about near the boundary line hoping to get into the groove.
NCA too had deputed two members of their staff including India A and India U19 head coach Paras Mhambrey alongwith physio Ashish Kaushik to look at the trio’s progress. Shortly later, now-on-now-off chairman of selectors MSK Prasad too turned up to watch the action.
Action Begins
So it was a star-studded day full of action. Pandya was to make it even better with his stint with the bat, hitting four sixes in a 25-ball 38.
When it was Reliance 1’s turn to defend a modest 150, all eyes were on Kumar. He looked to be in absolutely fine fettle and the ball was zipping through. He had looked decidedly ginger in his India appearances over the last couple of years but post his surgery the pacer was much more relaxed with the ball. It was not about the wickets. The effort put in by him pleased everyone connected with the team and NCA/BCCI.
Pandya on the other hand was his usual effervescent self with the ball, fielding off his own bowling and giving it his all. He had the loudest cheer as usual with the crowd slowly building up. He picked up three wickets, but it was the younger leg-spinner Rahul Chahar who had the honour of picking a five-for. Dhawan took a catch to some cheer from the crowd and made his presence felt. In the end Reliance 1 won quite easily, but the result was secondary to the sub-plot brewing in the background.
Post-Game Scenario
Post the game, Kumar was keen to pick the brains of former India mainstay Zaheer and went away wiser. A small crowd gathered around the dressing room, shouting for Pandya to come out to pose for photos. There was an unexpected melee.
When the stars were finally exiting the ground, there was some interest of sorts with a few fans pulling out their phones for a quick selfie, only to be sent away disappointed as the floodlights went down in the background slowly.
All in all, it was a day that went well for India’s injured superstars, which should gladden the hearts of Kohli & co.
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