The new kid on the block

“I got to know in the 46th over, when coach told me, ‘You will be going next, go pad up.’ Obviously, I padded up quickly and once I got my gloves, I went out straightaway because Yuvi paa got out,” Pandya told ICC at Edgbaston in Birmingham after India’s win. 

The 23-year-old Pandya was chosen to go in ahead of MS Dhoni, a OneDay International legend, and Kedar Jadhav  who has built a growing reputation as an inventive and big-hitting limited-overs batsman. 

The reasoning was simple: the young Pandya has the ability to smash the ball from the word go. And smash it is exactly what he did. He took a single off his first ball – in the 47th over of an innings reduced to 48 – and was facing up to Imad Wasim’s left-arm spin in the last over. 

The first ball was in the slot, full outside off, and Pandya promptly sent it sailing over long-off. The next ball was wider, but on a similar length, and was hit with even more power over the ropes. The third ball was all about Pandya showing his power-hitting ability, slog-sweeping over midwicket to have three sixes in three balls.

 It gave India a rousing finish, with 23 runs eventually coming off the final over and taking the total to a daunting 319 for 3. Pandya’s contribution was an unbeaten 20 that came off a mere six deliveries. The method to Pandya’s hitting was simple: belief in his ability. 

“When I saw the left-arm spinner, I knew that I could go for it,” he revealed. “It’s all about backing yourself. I always feel that in cricket, you need to back yourself and be confident. Once you are confident, you take the right decision and eventually that pays off.” 

Self-belief has played a large role in Pandya’s rise, to the point where he is establishing himself as an indispensable cog in India’s white-ball setup. It helped him deal with the extra pressure that an India-Pakistan clash brings. “Honestly I won’t lie, pressure was there,” he admitted. 

“But still at the back of my mind, I was thinking of it as a normal game because I didn’t want to take unnecessary pressure. In any game, I wouldn’t want to take unnecessary pressure on myself because that makes you do something that you are not supposed to do. Pandya had a good outing with the ball too, taking 2 for 43 in eight nippy overs.