What’s the story?
Hardik Pandya has credited Mahendra Singh Dhoni for his recent success in finishing off games. As reported by Cricbuzz, the all-rounder has cited a tip from Dhoni during the England series back in January that helped him get to the mental make-up for tackling situations under pressure.
"I still remember one incident when I asked him how to finish the games. And he said that you need to make sure you look at the scoreboard. You need to make sure you see the situations and play accordingly. That way I have noticed that you don't put pressure on yourself. Because you want the team to win, that's the motive.
“So you don't have your own personal thing that you have to do something special, that pressure is not on you. You just have to focus on what you can do for the team and play according to the situation. So that was a big tip which he gave me and which eventually helped me," Pandya said.
In case you didn’t know…
Earlier, Virat Kohli had mentioned how the team management backed Pandya and Kedar Jadhav to deliver the goods lower down the order and how the duo have eased the pressure on Dhoni.
True, along with Jadhav, Pandya has forged a formidable combination that meets the team’s need of power-hitting batsmen in the lower order.
In the ODI series against England, Pandya contributed with scores of 40*, 19* and 56, which helped him secure a place in the Champions Trophy squad.
The heart of the matter
Pandya also spoke about how the conditions in England were different and how he is looking to adapt accordingly. He had a chat with Dhoni regarding the same who told him that one has to spend time on the wicket and get settled and then it becomes easy to score runs.
The 23-year-old executed the plan to perfection in yesterday’s warm-up match against Bangladesh. Coming in to bat in the 33rd over, Pandya initially took some time to get used to the conditions before taking the attack to the bowlers.
He finished with an unbeaten 80 from just 54 balls to help India cross the 300-run mark. In the end, India went on to register a big win.
What’s next?
India begin their title defence on June 4, 2017, with a match against their arch-rivals, Pakistan. Kohli has all but confirmed that Pandya will feature in the Playing XI and the latter will definitely look to show his worth.
Author’s take
Dhoni is widely considered as one of the best finishers in the modern game. That he is helping out the youngsters is a good sign for Indian cricket. Pandya has surely benefitted from the former skipper’s tips but now we will have to wait and see if he can put them to effect in the big tournament.
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