Leg and Off: Should India pick Hardik Pandya for BGT 2024-25?

Team India are slated to tour Australia for the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in November later this year. The first Test of the series between the two teams will be played in Perth, starting November 22.

As the holders of the trophy, India will be under immense pressure to retain the BGT and give Australia a taste of their own medicine in their backyard. However, it is much easier said than done given how harsh conditions are down under.

India will have to contend with seaming pitches as well as a fired-up Australian bowling attack that has not quite forgiven them for the insults meted out the last time the two teams played a series in the country.

For the unversed, India scripted history by coming back from being a match down in the 2020-21 series to eventually win it 2-1. That the first Test saw the visitors get bowled out for 36 made the comeback even more spectacular.

India have won the last two BGTs held in Australia, and this will give them an immense boost in confidence ahead of the upcoming series as well. However, one of the gaps they will be keen on plugging in their side is that of a seaming all-rounder.

Hardik Pandya is the name that comes almost immediately to mind when one mentions the phrase 'Indian all-rounder' and why not? The raucous player almost single-handedly won India their second T20 World Cup title earlier this year.

However, in red-ball cricket, Pandya has been anything short of a raging success, which has been exacerbated by his absence from both domestic and international cricket for a considerable amount of time.

It goes without saying that Pandya's presence in the Indian side for the BGT will give them a massive leg-up given the kind of balance the Baroda all-rounder can strike with both bat and ball, but is the risk worth taking?

---

Hardik Pandya last played a first-class match in 2018

Hardik Pandya of India bats during day three of the Specsavers 3rd Test match between England and India at Trent Bridge on August 20, 2018 in Nottingham, England.

For those of us getting swept ashore by the semantics of the theatre one saw from the 31-year-old in Bridgetown in June, it is worth a reality check to remember that he last played a first-class game in November 2018.

Pandya's last Test had come in September that year in England when he had impressed everyone with his nagging line and length with the ball in hand. However, injuries have forced him off the radar in red-ball cricket ever since.

One also suspects that along with injuries, Pandya's unwillingness to push himself in the longest format of the game has had a more than significant role in this decision he has conceivably taken for himself.

However, India will be better off if they can extract the best out of him in Test cricket and allow him to go berserk with both bat and ball in hand. Fitness permitting, Pandya should be a walk-in to the India Test side, especially overseas.

Then what prevents him from being the world-class all-rounder that everyone presumes him to be? It is staggering that he has played in just 11 Tests in his career so far and amassed a measly 532 runs at an average of 31 with only one ton to his name.

With the ball in hand, Pandya fares only slightly better, having picked up 17 wickets at an average of 31. If his record is anything to go by, no selector worth his salt will back him to do well in Australia.

The ropes (either long or short) have become exceedingly disparate in Indian cricket of late, and rarely has a cricketer been pushed by the management on the sole promise of what he can do, and not what he has done in the past.

Hardik Pandya, unfortunately, falls into a category that no captain, coach or selector will be keen on backing in these turbulent times, especially given that the BGT this season consists of five Tests and will test the fitness of every participant.

Pandya does not fall among the most ubiquitous of players India can trust under these circumstances, and the risk of taking him on a tour that has historically been known to make or break careers, is simply not worth taking.