Hardik has been brilliant since comeback, says Rohit

DUBAI: India captain Rohit Sharma said that Hardik Pandya has returned with a better understanding of his game and is more confident about what he wants to do with both bat and ball since his comeback.

According to Rohit, Hardik is a player who now knows what he needs to do in specific situations.”Since the time he (Hardik) has made his comeback, he has been brilliant. When he was not part of the team, he figured out what he needs to do to his body and his fitness regime. And now, he is clocking 140+ kmph easily,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

“We all know his batting quality and he has been brilliant since his comeback. He is a lot calmer now and more confident about what he wants to do, whether it is with the bat or with the ball,” added Rohit.

The fact that Hardik can bowl with good pace was on display on Sunday.”He can bowl really quickly, we saw that today (Sunday) with those short balls. It was always about just understanding his game and he is doing that well now. In a high-pressure match with 10 runs per over needed, you can panic but he never showed any of that.”

Despite restricting Pakistan to a below-par 147 in the Group A match, India could get home only in the final over as the top order faltered. “Halfway through the chase, we still knew that we could win irrespective of the situation. We had the belief and when you have that belief, these things can happen,” Rohit said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam felt that his bowlers did well to make the India chase a tricky one. “The way we started [with the ball], was great. We were about 10-15 runs short, but our tail did step up a bit to add those handy runs. The bowlers did really well to make a match of this,” Babar said.

On left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz bowling the last over, Babar said: “The thought was to take the game deep. The idea was to create pressure, but Hardik finished well.” Pacer Naseem Shah picked up two wickets on his T20I debut and Babar was lavish in his praise for the youngster. “He (Naseem) is a very young bowler, but bowled so well. He showed so much aggression,” Babar went on to add.