If you tell Hardik Pandya he can't do something, he'll do it

All of us have been in situations where people have told us that we just aren’t good enough. For some, it has happened at workplaces. For others, it has been in a personal relationship that was valued above everything else. Either way, it is a recurring phenomenon, wherein your ability is questioned and everything you do is cast under the scanner.

Quite often, it becomes very difficult to break out of that funk. Each decision is met with derision (both from the outside and from the inside), and at every juncture, there is a session of introspection. For years, you have, at least from your perspective, displayed whatever traits are expected of you. But all of a sudden, you have to quell all these doubts – while reassuring yourself that things will become like they once were.

When a similar parallel is drawn for cricket, this is perhaps what Hardik Pandya must have been feeling post India’s debacle at the 2021 T20 World Cup. The Men In Blue entered that tournament with a glut of anchors and when they failed to win against New Zealand and Pakistan, the blame was transferred onto Pandya because, well, that was certainly the more fashionable thing to do.

He wasn’t bowling consistently at that stage either – something that asked further questions of whether he should have been selected in the first place. There is also a rumour that MS Dhoni backed Pandya to feature as a frontline batter – again, something that didn’t sit down too well with the majority.

The all-rounder didn’t play any kind of cricket post the T20 World Cup, meaning that when he was acquired by the Gujarat Titans and was appointed as their skipper, he had plenty of boxes to tick. Not just from a team perspective, but also on an individual level.

There was intrigue around how much he would bowl. The last time he bowled a ball in anger in the IPL was back in 2019. A string of injuries thereafter meant that he couldn’t really optimize his potential. He still kept doing his bit with the bat for the Mumbai Indians. But for someone of his calibre, just doing his bit wasn’t enough.

Then, there was a question mark over how he would, if it came to that, function as a specialist batter. At the T20 World Cup, that was a punt India were willing to take. But with it not materializing as expected, it was a narrative Pandya had to correct in IPL 2022.

The final quandary, as you might have guessed by now, revolved around how he would captain the Titans. Just a couple of years ago, the all-rounder was embroiled in a massive controversy on a very popular talk show. He has had a few other run-ins as well. So, for him to emerge from it and cast himself as someone others could look up to, was quite a task.

At the start, even his staunchest supporters would’ve been a little sceptical. After all, he hadn’t played any cricket since November 2021 and a return to the IPL without any match practice seemed fraught with danger. But like all things Pandya, he found a way. It wasn’t the most conventional method. It wasn’t something many thought he was capable of. But it was just what he and the Titans needed.

On the night of the final, the all-rounder proved to everyone why he is still rated so highly. When he came on to bowl, the Rajasthan Royals were looking to accelerate. Sanju Samson had established himself at the crease and was waiting to tear GT apart.

Pandya had other ideas. He assessed the conditions very early and started banging away on a back of a length. On the second ball itself, Samson lost patience and hacked at a delivery outside off stump. The ball skewed off the top edge and landed safely in R Sai Kishore’s palms.

An over later, Jos Buttler took down Mohammad Shami and seemed intent on continuing. The GT skipper, though, had an ace up his sleeve. He was massively helped by Rashid Khan’s brilliance and Devdutt Padikkal’s sluggishness. But it was Pandya who actually got rid of Buttler and opened the floodgates for the Titans.

He returned to claim Shimron Hetmyer before averting a possible batting wobble deeper into the evening. Not only did he show composure when at the crease, he picked and chose his moments to attack superbly. Ravichandran Ashwin, who is usually a menace against left-handed batters, had been kept aside for a favourable match-up. Pandya ensured that that never transpired.

In Ashwin’s first over, the GT captain planted his front foot and clattered the ball over long on – almost as a statement that he knows what he is doing. It hasn’t been a one-off this season either. Throughout this edition, he has scored tough runs for GT and has told the world that he can indeed function as a specialist batter.

He has struggled for rhythm a touch in the death overs in IPL 2022 but has still found a way to muster 487 runs at an average of 44.27 and a strike rate of 131.27. These aren’t comparable to what Buttler has produced, although it is significantly better than what some of his more illustrious peers – the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli - have produced this campaign.

His leadership has been pretty exemplary too. In the final, there was no need to bowl Sai Kishore at the death. Yet, Pandya went with his instincts. The left-arm spinner repaid his trust with a couple of wickets. Apart from it, he always seemed ahead of the game, highlighting his tendency to be proactive than reactive.

Hardik Pandya has silenced his critics emphatically

So, this is how things stand. Till two months ago, it was questioned if Pandya could be a specialist batter in a T20 setup. It was asked if he could bowl as well as he once did. It was also queried if he could stamp his own style of leadership and lead the Titans to any kind of success. He has ticked each of those boxes this season.

It's a good sign for the Indian cricket team. A fit and firing Pandya adds numerous strings to their bow. It is also a very encouraging manifestation for the Titans, considering Pandya can build the sort of legacy Dhoni and Rohit have at CSK and MI, respectively.

Again, too many expectations vis-à-vis Pandya hasn’t been a very fruitful love story in the past for Indian cricket. But not having expectations, especially for someone of his calibre, seems a crime as well. For now, though, this version will do just fine.

As far as pre-season critics are concerned, well, it’s fair to say the GT skipper has answered them emphatically. So much so that you begin to wonder if there is anything he can’t do. It’s almost as if the moment anyone says there’s something he can’t do, he will go ahead and do it.

Sometimes, it works in mysterious ways. You don’t really want someone ignoring your orders at every stage and doing what he wishes. But on most occasions, this sort of motivation is the difference between an immensely successful season and a campaign where the crucial moments were lost.

GT now know its benefits. India have known its perils for long. But you need someone to break out of the funk – that mundane questioning of abilities, that negativity around if a player will ever hit peak form again. Not many do that better than Pandya.