"Been Better Than...": Team India Must Change Hardik Pandya's Batting Position, Feels This Great

Hardik Pandya has been a revelation in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. Despite not having any prior experience of leading a team, Pandya took on the role as Gujarat Titans (GT) captain with much success. His team is currently the league-toppers in the 10-team IPL 2022. Individually, Pandya has scored 308 runs in eight matches to be his team's top-scorer in the IPL so far. He has also been batting in a new position. While earlier he was used in the lower order, Pandya has been batting in the top order for GT in IPL 2022.  

His performance has convinced Harbhajan Singh that Pandya should bat up the order for Indian cricket team. 

"Hardik has a great technique. He can be a proper batsman. But we hadn't seen him in this role until now. He usually used to come down the order and smash big hits. Now, he had the opportunity to come to bat properly with 17-18 overs remaining in the innings, and he has looked like a top-class batsman. I don't want to compare him to anybody but, with the game that he has shown so far, he has been better than many other great batters at the moment," Harbhajan told Sportskeeda.

"I would want Hardik to have such chances in the Indian team as well. You can have someone else as a finisher. If you have such solid players like him at number three-four, you don't need to send him down the order. When you are set, in the latter overs you can do more damage. He has been phenomenal with the bat, outstanding with the ball too. He is making a strong case for himself (to make a comeback to the Indian team)."

Pandya's best individual performance is an 87 not out against Rajasthan Royals this season. He has cracked three fifties so far and currently sits at the fourth position in the batting charts.

With the ball, he has taken four wickets in eight games at an average of 35 and an economy of 7.56.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Gujarat Titans Hardik Pandya Harbhajan Singh IPL 2022 Cricket