“XYZ Can Say Whatever They Want…”: Ravi Shastri on “No. 1 Allrounder” Hardik Pandya | Cricket News

The Indian cricket squad for the T20 Word Cup has already been announced. Hardik Pandya holds a special place in the 15-member squad as he is the top all-rounder in the side. Pandya has shown maturity with the bat and has been bowling fast too. Former Indian cricket team head coach Ravi Shastri, in his own inimitable style, reiterated once again that Pandya is the no. 1 allrounder in the T20I format. “I have already tweeted and posted on Instagram that he is the No. 1 all-rounder in this format of the game. What else do you need? I had said it two weeks back. What else is there to add or subtract? XYZ can say whatever they want… everyone is entitled to his opinion. My view is clear, which is what I tweeted a couple of weeks ago,” Shastri told Sports Tak.

Recently, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar opined that Hardik should be roped in into the squad as a fourth medium pacer but not as the third. Hardik leaked 44 runs in his four overs with only one wicket in the Asia Cup Super 4 match against Pakistan.

“I think there were important lessons that came through last night and you could see Rohit Sharma on the field was pretty animated. I think they’ve made some important notes. One thing that came through for me and I’m sure for the team management as well is that if you at some point of time want to play just three medium pacers, Hardik Pandya cannot be one of the three,” said Manjrekar on Sports18’s daily sports news show ‘Sports Over The Top’.

“Hardik is great when he knows that he is the 4th seamer, and he can afford to have an off day and somebody else will come and take over like (Ravindra) Jadeja could bowl a couple of overs and Hardik Pandya if he’s not bowling well, not getting wickets could be happy with two,” he added.