Hardik Pandya opens up after his half century on debut

What's the story?

After a successful outing with the Men in Blue in the limited overs format, Hardik Pandya carried his form into the Test side as well. He scored a quick-fire half century against Sri Lanka in the first innings of the first Test held in Galle.

He was interviewed by his teammate Cheteshwar Pujara after the match and spoke about his knock amongst many other things.

"Even when I was batting, it felt like batting in one-dayers. The scenario was perfect for me. As an international cricketer, you need to be smart as in terms of preparation. While switching formats, there is a switch in mindset but skill sets generally don't change," said Pandya in the video which was uploaded on bcci.tv

In case you didn't know...

Coming in to bat at no. 8 in the batting line-up, Pandya scored 50 off 49 balls with five fours and three sixes to his name.

His knock helped India reach a massive total of 600 in the first innings. It was Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara's centuries which helped India's cause and it was Pandya who had provided the late burst.

Kohli complimented the innings and said it gave India an extra 15 overs to bowl against Sri Lanka.

India eventually went on to win the match by a huge margin of 304 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the 3 match series.

The details:

In the interview, the Pujara-Pandya duo shared a few light moments where Pujara asked the 23 year old all-rounder about who hits a pull shot better. Pandya was quick in his response and said that Pujara was definitely the better player of the pull shot claiming that he could hit it 100 metres long on any ground.

Pujara also questioned Pandya on his ability to hit six sixes in an over like Yuvraj.

What's next?

With an impressive performance in the first Test, Pandya will most probably feature in the playing XI in the second Test as well which will be held in Colombo.

Author's take:

It was interesting and refreshing to see Pandya play his natural attacking game in the Test format as well. If he continues to play such a brand of cricket batting lower down the order, he could prove to be a vital cog in the Indian side for a long time.

With his ability to bowl quick and pick up wickets at regular intervals, he could go down to become one of the best all-rounders in the game.