At one stage in the game, India looked destined to bundle
out for under 150. All of their top order batsmen were gone, but one man stood
among it all: Hardik Pandya. The younger Pandya played an aggressive innings
to help his team reach a respectable total.
Indeed, Cheteshwar Pujara lauded his team-mate, stating that
his innings lifted the dressing room. He also admitted that if Pandya didn’t
score those runs, the team would have been in trouble.
“We all always believed that he can play such an innings,
and once he played, the environment in the dressing room was quite positive,”
Pujara said.
“Those runs were very important for the team and kept us in
the game. If he hadn’t scored those runs, we would have been under trouble. He
kept us in the game and got us two wickets also at the end of the day’s play.
So, his performance was outstanding.”
Pujara also believes that an in-form all-rounder balances
the team and hoped that the all-rounder continued the way he has been so far.
“He batted really well, showed a lot of character. He hasn’t
played many Test matches away from home, but we expect that kind of an innings
if he is in the playing XI. I think if someone who is very promising, he is
batting well and bowling well, it makes a lot of difference to the team because
when you have a very good all-rounder, it balances your team combination. I
hope he continues like this.”
Pandya is a very different batsman to Pujara and the latter
admits is, stating that the former is someone who believes in playing his shots
and the conditions at Cape Town allowed him to do so.
“I think it was a case of him playing his natural game. He
is someone who likes to play his shots. That’s how he would bat in any
situation. This was the ideal situation for him to express himself. The moment
he tries playing his shots he is successful. We have seen that against Sri
Lanka as well. When he started playing his shots he was a different player
altogether. That’s how he should be playing, and this is what makes him a
different player from a top order batsman.”
