For someone as flamboyant off the pitch as on it, it is fitting that Hardik Pandya\u2019s transformation into India\u2019s reliable fifth bowler has been nothing less than spectacular at this year\u2019s Cricket World Cup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 25-year-old, known for his flash clothes and love for bling, arrived in England with many wondering if he was good enough for the fifth bowler\u2019s job in his maiden World Cup. The seam-bowling all-rounder has since effortlessly dispelled any shred of doubt with a string of stellar performances with the ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He now inspires so much confidence in Virat Kohli that the India captain went with only five bowlers in Tuesday\u2019s victory against Bangladesh which secured their place in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe experienced that Hardik, when put under pressure has, come back really well in this tournament Kohli said of what prompted his \u201cgamble\u201d with the bowling attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He bowled his full 10 overs against Australia, Afghanistan, England and Bangladesh. India\u2019s opening fixture against South Africa was the only match where the opposition lasted 50 overs and Pandya did not complete his quota.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe finds a way to contain the runs and get you wickets. He\u2019s really looking forward to do stuff for the team, that\u2019s really helping his cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pandya claimed 3-60 on Tuesday and his victims included Bangladesh talisman Shakib Al Hasan, who top-scored for his side with 66, and Liton Das, who he dismissed with a trademark short ball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For someone as flamboyant off the pitch as on it, it is fitting that Hardik Pandya\u2019s transformation into India\u2019s reliable fifth bowler has been nothing less than spectacular at this year\u2019s Cricket World Cup. The 25-year-old, known for his flash clothes and love for bling, arrived in England with many wondering if he was good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65217,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65218,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65216\/revisions\/65218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}