IND vs NZ: Mohammad Kaif praises Hardik Pandya for resisting urge to herald Prithvi Shaw for Shubman Gill

Mohammad Kaif praised Hardik Pandya for resisting the urge to incorporate Prithvi Shaw within the lineup for the ultimate T20I towards New Zealand and sticking with Shubman Gill. The 23-year-old scored an unbeaten 126 to information India to a sequence win towards the Kiwis.

New Delhi,UPDATED: Feb 2, 2023 13:30 IST

Kaif had just a few phrases of reward for Pandya’s bowling as effectively (Courtesy: AP)

By India Today Web Desk: Mohammad Kaif has praised Hardik Pandya and lauded the all-rounder for resisting the urge to herald Prithvi Shaw for the ultimate T20I towards New Zealand and sticking with Shubman Gill.

Gill was the hero for India on Wednesday as he scored 126 runs to change into the fifth Indian batter to attain 100 in all codecs of the sport.

India went on to win the match by 168 runs and with it the sequence as effectively.

During a post-match dialogue on Star Sports, as quoted by Sportskeeda, Kaif praised Pandya for sticking with Gill and never bringing in Shaw regardless of the openers not having a great report within the earlier two video games.

“The captain has a huge role in deciding the XI you are going to play. You become greedy at times, when players are sitting in the squad, that your openers are not firing and it is a big decider, so (Prithvi) Shaw can probably do that job.”

“There were many moments when he took the right decision. He played the same team today as well. It was a different thing that Ishan Kishan got out but the decision was correct. He backed (Shubman) Gill and said at the toss that he will bat,” stated Kaif.

The former cricketer additionally identified that Pandya knew that India may win the match by batting first and stated it was the all-rounder’s power as a captain.

“Everyone was saying that you can chase here, dew also came later, but he knew that they can win by batting first on this pitch. And the way you batted, you scored 230-odd runs, the match was over there itself. This is Hardik Pandya’s strength,” stated Kaif.

Kaif additionally had just a few phrases of reward for Pandya’s bowling and ended by lauding the 29-year-old’s work as a captain. The all-rounder had picked up 4 wickets on the day.

“In bowling, he is coming with the new ball. He bowled three inswingers to Finn Allen and when he saw that he was surviving, he bowled a wider line and got it to swing. He sits in the meeting and plans where to bowl to which batter and executes that as well.”

“A lot of bowlers come with a copy and pen to the meetings and make big plans but are unable to bowl on the spot under pressure. The decisions he is taking are fantastic and I will say that whatever he has done as a captain is praiseworthy.”

Published On:

Feb 2, 2023