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Hardik Pandya’s Test selection raised as many eyebrows as demonetisation did. Everyone was cynical about the selection of the derisively labelled limited overs specialist. Everyone except the man who really mattered, his captain, Virat Kohli, who was quoted saying after the first Test in Galle: “I have a lot of faith in (Hardik) as far as any format is concerned. If he grows in confidence you see someone like Ben Stokes, what he does for England, brings in great balance as an all-rounder. I see no reason why Hardik Pandya can’t become that for India”.
A bold and premature statement, some said, given Pandya’s First-Class average hovering in the twenties and his highest score of 90. This, coupled with the fact that a one-Test rookie, hitherto oblivious to the trials and tribulations of Test cricket, was being compared to a seasoned campaigner with hundreds across the globe, including a double against South Africa in Cape Town.
Two Tests later, in the small matter of a session, the repository of Kohli’s unwavering faith changed more than just the complexion of a game that seemed to be hanging by the balance before his unbridled assault. Shot by shot, as the scoreboard catapulted in multiples of six, Pandya was suddenly being viewed with the same reverence as an Adam Gilchrist or an Andrew Flintoff, besides highlighting the fallacy of the perception about him.
Yet, the salient feature in an exhibition of brute force was a quality that often separates the men from the boys at the highest level – temperament.
More exalted men than Pandya may have pressed the panic button at the fall of Wriddhiman Saha's wicket, with only the tail-enders for company. But as instinctively as fish take to water, Pandya took to an unfamiliar situation. He seemed to know exactly when to attack, defend, or rotate the strike, as if it were predestined. For most part, the calculated approach was vaguely reminiscent of Steve Waugh or VVS Laxman – masters of chaperoning the lower order. In fact, till the ninth wicket of Mohammed Shami was lost, Pandya had cleared the ropes just once. However, in the over that followed Shami’s dismissal, the transformation from meticulous accumulation of runs to a barrage of boundaries was nearly as sudden and profound as Gregor Samsa’s metamorphosis in Franz Kafka’s classic novella.
This wasn't the first time over the last one year that India's lower order managed to push the score beyond what's considered par for the course. That's part of the reason why India have gone on to win Test matches despite conceding scores in excess of 400 in the first innings. The Mumbai and Chennai Tests against England immediately spring to mind. But on all those occasions, top order batsmen scored heavily, and all the bowling all-rounders came to the party. However, Pandya had no such luxuries to take refuge in, with both Ashwin and Saha back in the hut, and Jadeja missing the Test.
With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to see that Pandya was building towards an innings of such authority. His 76 in the Champions Trophy final and the fifty in the first Test were just curtain raisers to the main event. The fear was, especially with him batting as low as number eight, that he might react to the position he was slotted in, and go the same route as a Shahid Afridi, who was rarely able to sustain an attack in the longer format, due to the absence of any field restrictions. Pandya remained immune to any such maladies in his 96-ball 108. In fact, the boundary was found with such consummate ease as the innings progressed that Sri Lanka could have had another team on the field but Pandya would have found a way to beat them.
The all-rounder, still learning his craft, has merely been a contributor to India's cause, in any format. That, his most impactful innings so far has come in a Test match, comes as a breath of fresh air. With his bowling continuing to show drastic improvement, as was highlighted by the dismissal of a well-set Kusal Mendis, whom he hoodwinked with clever changes of pace and length, on an unresponsive surface at the SSC, Pandya is slowly providing a glimpse into a future prophesied by Kohli.
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