"Where is Hardik Pandya?"- Nasser Hussain & Ricky Ponting on India's bowling woes during WTC final
Former England skipper Nasser Hussain pointed out the imbalance in Team India's bowling combination during Day 1 of the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia at The Oval on Wednesday.
Australia mounted a humongous 327/3 at the end of Day 1 and the Indian bowlers looked out of sorts for most of the day. Hussain shed light on their decision to leave out Ravichandran Ashwin for playing four seamers and felt that they weren't sure about what their XI was going to be.
Speaking on air to former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting during Day 1, Nasser Hussain explained the balance that the likes of Cameron Green bring to the Test side and felt India missed a trick by not convincing Hardik Pandya to play the final. He said:
“At the toss this morning, it was so apparent that India were not sure about their side and Australia were crystal clear and Cameron Green has a lot to do with that. He just balances the side away from home in England. He is the sort of cricketer that India would have loved to have.
"Of course, Shardul Thakur is a seam-bowling all-rounder of kinds. In India, you’ve got Jadeja, Ashwin and Axar Patel. They are complete all-rounders in Indian conditions but what about a seam-bowling all-rounder when you go overseas? Where is Hardik Pandya?"
Ricky Ponting explained Hardik Pandya's perspective to Nasser Hussain
Ricky Ponting replied to Nasser Hussain by explaining what Hardik Pandya himself felt about his Test future. Ever since the prolonged back injury, Pandya has been pretty cautious about workload management.
Ponting also said that Pandya felt it would have been 'unfair' on others who had contributed massively to India's success over the past couple of years. He stated:
“That’s the one line that was mentioned in commentary earlier today. He (Hardik) made it clear that he feels his body won’t get through the rigours of Test cricket. He was thrown up in a game like this what do you think about playing in a game like this, just a one-off Test just to help the balance of the side? And his reply apparently was that he didn’t feel it was fair on everyone else who have been through this journey in the last couple of years leading into this game
India will need to strike early on Day 2 or else the game could slip away from them in no time.