His on-field performance did not floor me; neither did his fielding or bowling. What left me stunned was his accent. If I had only heard it and not seen it on TV, I would have assumed that it was some West Indian player being interviewed. Maybe someone like Chris Gayle or Vivian Richards. His enunciation was eerily similar to theirs; he said “hey man” exactly the same way. His lopsided hairstyle is a source of wonder too. He has the sudden sleepy swagger of a lion in the wild.
There is evidently no rush to get to the top here, and every impulse is to dismiss the world as a mere distraction. There is a certain smoothness to him, a self-contained sort of motivation. He is like freely falling water in some lonely wood that stops or moves for no one. His single, solitary aim is to keep flowing.
Cool as a Cucumber
It is possible that some might find his attitude strange, even objectionable. But this is just how Indian cricket’s rising superstar is. His name is Hardik Pandya. I met him once at a function in Mumbai where he was in attendance with his brother Krunal. All three of us were required to give a brief speech about ourselves.
I was impressed by his self-confidence despite his small years; by the twinkle in his eyes and the curious restlessness in his being. We didn’t get to speak much beyond a brief hello. He wasn’t a full-fledged member of the Indian cricket team then. He was playing for the Mumbai team in the IPL tournament.
But there was still a strange draw to him. Then he got a chance to play for the national team.
People began saying that he might just be the fast bowling all rounder the boys in blue have been looking for.
We can see today that Hardik has indeed lived up to those expectations. We knew it when he wreaked havoc with his bat in the first ODI against Australia and then claimed two wickets when they were most needed. When he came to bat, India was very sensitively placed. Nathan Coulter-Nile was in terrifying form. He had already taken 3 wickets and had broken the backbone of our batting order.
Pandya the Saviour
Viral Kohli, out for a duck, was brooding in the pavilion. Manish Pandey misjudged the ball and followed Kohli. Rahane too had already surrendered by this time. All hope rested with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the old guard. We were five wickets down and defeat seemed imminent. Hardik was in partnership with Dhoni.
As they worked their twin magic, flagging hopes revived. Maybe we would be able to make a respectable score after all. Dhoni, of course, is an old hand at this. He is often called the best finisher that limited overs game has ever seen. He knows when to play it safe, how long to play it safe, and when to throw caution to the winds.
Hardik is new blood. His energy is his USP. His game depended on how well he could play with Dhoni. The two played on steadily. Steven Smith handed over the bowling duty to leg spin bowler Adam Zampa who is often compared to Shane Warne for his technique.
The first over passed uneventfully. So did the second. The third, however, positively exploded on to the scene. The ball vanished into the air despite deep long on and long off. Not once but thrice! Stoinis was up next. Hardik got a 6 off Stoinis’ shortball. The next over was Zampa’s who was met with another 6 off Hardik’s bat. Though Pandya got out in this over, the course of the game had changed.
After five sixers, India was back in the game and how! Hardik hammered 83 off just 67 balls. His brilliant partnership with Dhoni saved the day. He later took two wickets as well, one of them being Steven Smith. India won and Pandya was crowned the Man of the Match.
Patience and Aggression Balanced
It is beyond debate that IPL and 20-20 has changed the face of the game. A fast score is no longer a big or a rare deal. Any batsman can put up an explosive show and change the course within an over or two.
True talent lies, however, in clean hitting. It lies in maintaining the correct temperament under times of stress and self-confidence in the face of dismal odds.
After losing five wickets, India’s defeat seemed all but certain. That was time to exercise caution. Hardik took his cue from Dhoni and maintained patience. When they felt that it was time to quit playing safe so that India could at least end with a respectable score, they unleashed their full aggression.
In the 37th over, Hardik went into attack mode and altered the course of the game. His sixes were clean and perfectly timed. There was no brute force involved. This is the mark of an extraordinary player. No chaos, no false move. It was almost like a painter working on his masterpiece quietly in a corner. His face exhibited the glow of confidence, not desperation. He knew exactly what he was doing.
The Many Times he was India’s Saving Grace
Hardik had performed a similar miracle in the Champions Trophy final at The Oval. The eyes of the entire nation were on the men in blue. Everyone had been certain of India’s victory until the match began and all certainty flew out of the window. The World no. 1 team was down 5 wickets after a mere 54 runs. Hardik was up next. On his face was the same quiet glow of confidence.
He hammered 76 off 43 balls. He created a record by scoring a half century off 32 balls. The previous one was held by Adam Gilchrist. India lost the final but Hardik had arrived.
He got another chance to shine soon after in a match against Sri Lanka at Pallekele where he scored a century. He created another record by scoring the maximum runs (26) in a single over in a Test match. What was surprising was that this was Hardik’s first century in a first class match, which means he hadn’t scored a hundred even in a domestic one previously.
A Radical, Global Hardik
Hardik’s style of playing and his body language is completely unique in the pantheon of Indian cricket though it does carry something of Kohli’s daredevil attitude. Virat’s tattoos seem like the blueprints of a new story for the gentleman’s game.
Before him, Sachin Tendulkar was synonymous with the sport. A thorough gentleman, serious and steady. Only interested in the game and willing to let his bat speak for him.
Gavaskar too was a man of few words. His game had confidence but not the flamboyance that set the West Indies team apart. He was a model citizen and a model player. Tendulkar and Gavaskar are both great players. Virat is one too.
But every inch of Virat’s body is expressive; here is a man who does not give a damn what everyone else thinks. We Indians are obsessed with other’s opinion of us. This speculation consumes us, leaches our body of swagger and our manner of naturalness. We contract into ourselves in doubt. Can you imagine a tattooed Sachin? Impossible!
Sachin is image conscious. Virat is not. He does not believe in stoicism, in hiding his emotions. His frank aggressiveness is often misconstrued by Indian media and he finds himself in trouble. Erstwhile skipper Ganguly whipping off his shirt in celebration at the Lords comes close to capturing Kohli’s spirit.
Pandya is ahead of even Kohli. Virat is not interested in wholesale adoption of the West Indian players’ style. He is content with his own unique brand that is still recognisably Indian. Kohli is a little like English footballer Beckham that way. Both are talented style icons as well as celebrated sportsmen. Their lives are full of juice and colour. Whereas Sachin is conservative, Virat is revolutionary.
But Hardik is radical. He was born and brought up in a middle-class family in Vadodara. Like a lot of small-town people, he too grew up dreaming big. Now is his chance to realise those dreams.
He does not want to remain tied down by bonds of geography and culture. He is more global than Virat. His batting is without fear or restraint, clearly influenced by the West Indian team. He became close to some of these players while playing for Mumbai Indians. As a consequence, he adopted not just their lifestyle but also the spirit of their play.
Kapil Dev 2.0
Kapil Dev could be his icon. Like him, Dev too was an all-rounder as well as a fearless batsman. But Dev’s bowling was better.
Hardik has to improve his rhythm and swing if he wants to approach Dev’s level of proficiency. Kapil was a revolutionary in his own time, though tradition-bound. Hardik has potential. When he made the team, he used to bowl at the speed of 135-136 kph. That number has now gone up to 140. He is a regular wicket-taker as well as a good first change bowler.
Kapil was the team’s main bowler until the very end. We can say that Pandya is following in his footsteps. He has the energy as well as the potential to outdo Dev. Just like Virat has the potential to become better than Sachin one day.
The key for Hardik will be to constantly keep chasing the dream. This is the defining characteristic of his generation, which is global in worldview and Indian at heart. He just needs to keep dreaming.
(The writer is an author and spokesperson of AAP. He can be reached at @ashutosh83B. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same. This article was originally published on QuintHindi.)
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